- Conference
- 2021 National Disabled Members' Conference
- Date
- 9 July 2021
- Decision
- Carried as Amended
Conference is concerned that the recent pandemic, poorly funded local authorities and the government’s proposals to reform planning are combining to make hopes of better access for disabled people a distant dream.
As the country started to reopen after the first lockdown local councils were told to do whatever was needed to help kickstart the economy. While these changes may have helped businesses. they often made life increasingly difficult for disabled people trying to navigate their way around their local areas.
Seats that disabled people relied on to rest as they went about their daily lives were removed to make way for pavement cafes that blocked pavements. Disabled parking bays and bus stops were removed to create new pedestrian walkways or cycle lanes or even worse dangerous and outdated shared spaces.
While these measures were supposed to be temporary some councils are planning to make them permanent despite the devastating impact this has on disabled people’s ability to access services or get to work.
The government’s failure to reimburse councils for the cost of COVID has left funding gaps that need be plugged. Many councils have resorted to introducing parking charges for blue badge holders, reducing non-statutory services that disabled people rely on or increasing the cost of services such as Shopmobility.
And the outlook isn’t much better when it comes to housing, transport and planning. Ministers announced £30 million of funding for 17,000 new homes in England with no requirement for any of the 160 new housing schemes to include accessible homes.
New housing developments are being built with little or no consideration of the public transport infrastructure, availability of healthcare, schools and essential services making these homes inaccessible for Disabled Members.
The government’s proposed planning reforms will create an increasingly inaccessible environment for disabled people with all proposed developments in ‘Growth Zones’ automatically be granted planning permission as local authorities lose the right to refuse applications that don’t include disability access.
The planning reforms won’t just apply to housing applications but to everything from health centres to shops and leisure facilities to transport hubs and workplaces. And with no need for public consultation, no opportunity to raise objections and no requirement for access statements Disabled Members will be left feeling increasingly isolated and excluded by the inaccessible environments they are forced to live in.
Conference calls on National Disabled Members Committee to work with the NEC, Service Group Executives and Labour Link to:
1)Through the Local Government Agency, lobby councils for the removal of temporary changes to the environment or infrastructure that were introduced due to COVID that have an adverse impact on disabled people
2)Lobby government for the implementation of the recommendations in the EHRC report “Housing and disabled people: Britain’s hidden crisis” including:
• amending Part M of the Building Regulations to make accessibility standards M4(2) the mandatory minimum for all new housing; and
• requiring 10% of all new homes to be built to the higher wheelchair accessible standards
3. Campaign for a ban on charging for Blue Badge parking in all council owned car parks and for the introduction of a national fund to support services aimed at disabled people such as Shopmobility schemes.
4. Lobby for any reforms to planning law to:
• require all new planning applications, including in ‘Growth Zones’ to include an access statement that explains steps that will be taken to ensure the development is accessible to disabled people; and
• give local authorities the power to refuse any planning application, including in ‘Growth Zones’, where the development will not be reasonably accessible for disabled people.