Replacement Calderdale UDP : Adopted 25 August 2006 (as amended August 2009)

Replacement Calderdale UDP : Adopted 25 August 2006

• Foreword
• 1 Introduction
• 2 Calderdale in Context
• Strategic and Core Part One Policies
• 3 Guiding Principles and Key Themes
• 4 Employment, The Economy, Tourism and Regeneration
• 5 Housing
  • Introduction
  • Strategy for Housing
  • Existing Housing Areas
  • Additional Housing
  • Non-Allocated Sites
  • Density and Type of Dwellings
  • Living Over Shops and Other Business Premises
  • Affordable Housing
  • Accessible Housing
  • Houses in Multiple Occupation
  • Gypsies
• 6 Retailing and Town Centres
• 7 Open Space, Sport and Recreation Facilities
• 8 The Built and Historic Environment
• 9 Transport
• 10 Infrastructure, Education and Community Facilities
• 11 Natural Environment and the Countryside
• 12 Environmental Protection
• 13 Minerals
• 14 Waste Management
• 15 Monitoring and Review of the Plan
• Annex A Privacy, Daylighting and Amenity Space
• Annex B Trees On or Adjacent to Development Sites
• Appendix 1 National Planning Policy
• Appendix 2 National Minerals Policy
• Appendix 3 Supporting Published Documents
• Appendix 4 Glossary of Terms
• Appendix 5 Acronyms and Abbreviations
• Appendix 6 Policy Topic Index
• Appendix 7 Policy Number Comparison
• Appendix 8 Supplementary Maps

Accessible Housing

5.56 Following the 1999 revisions to Part M of the Building Regulations, housebuilders now have to ensure the accessibility of new housing to the disabled. In summary the Regulations require that:-

• disabled people can gain access to the dwelling;
• disabled people can move around within the entrance storey of the dwelling; and
• sanitary provision is made in the entrance storey of the dwelling.

5.57 Following these changes to the Building Regulations, the number of dwellings built to standards that enable wheelchair users to visit friends and relatives will be increased. However, the Building Regulations do waive these requirements on steeply sloping sites where plot gradients are greater than 1 in 15. In an area such as Calderdale with a high proportion of sloping sites, the potential of the Building Regulation changes to deliver homes built to higher visitability standards is therefore reduced. Experience demonstrates that even on sloping sites, early consideration of the need to achieve visitability standards can often result in layouts which enable these standards to be met. Developers are therefore encouraged to contact the Council as soon as possible when devising schemes on sloping sites in order to discuss the opportunities to provide visitability standards to all or a proportion of the planned dwellings and thereby maximise the number of dwellings built to such standards. There is clearly a need to increase the number of such dwellings in the overall housing stock since the Calderdale Housing Requirements Study shows that only 35% of wheelchair users live in an adapted dwelling in Calderdale:-

5.58 As a result of applying the Building Regulations many dwellings will also include several features of Lifetime Homes, a higher standard than Part M in their requirement for adaptability and flexibility to be designed into the homes as well as accessibility. In contrast Part M is not intended to facilitate fully independent living for all disabled people. The Calderdale Housing Requirements Study also highlighted the fact that the population of Calderdale is an ageing population. There is therefore a need to increase the number of new homes built to Lifetime Homes Standards and the Council will require a proportion of such dwellings in schemes on sites over 1 hectare. The need for such accommodation is emphasised by the fact that the Study found the number of households with a disabled person was higher in Calderdale than in other similar studies undertaken by the consultants responsible for the Calderdale Study. The Study found that there is a specific need to address the under-provision of adapted dwellings to meet the current needs of households containing a disabled person. Sites over one hectare are large enough to accommodate a mix of dwelling types including Lifetime Homes. A nominal figure of 15% is considered reasonable but will vary from site to site depending on the actual need in an area based on the findings of the Housing Requirements Study. Suitable sites are those within 800 metres of shops and services. Over time this approach will lead to an increase in the proportion of Lifetime Homes in the overall dwelling stock:-

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