INTRODUCTION

  The Retirement Housing Group of the House Builders Federation consists of retirement housing developers and housing managers, both RSL and private sector. Its ex officio members include representatives of the charity, the Elderly Accommodation Counsel, and the Association of Retirement Housing Managers.

  This evidence deals exclusively with this specialist area of housing and is complementary to Memoranda submitted by the House Builders Federation on behalf of developers of general market housing.

  The Group has a wide-ranging interest in planning and management issues, leasehold reform and Government policy of all kinds, which affect vulnerable groups such as the elderly.

DEFINITION

  Sheltered housing is

"housing which is purpose built or converted exclusively for sale to elderly people with a package of estate management services and which consists of grouped, self-contained accommodation with an emergency alarm system, usually with communal facilities and normally with a resident warden"

  This can cover a range of provision from lifestyle housing for the active, newly retired through to warden assisted housing with community facilities and design modifications through to very sheltered housing with high staffing levels and many additional services and facilities.

  The majority of current schemes are warden assisted with occupants of an average age of 75. As such these purchasers and residents, even if still fit, are likely to become increasingly frail and concerned about security.

  Many sheltered housing schemes are on urban, brownfield sites. They are high density with lower car parking ratios than many mainstream developments and are frequently within walking distance of shops, doctors' surgeries, chemists, post offices and public transport. They therefore meet many of the Government's criteria for sustainable development.

  The significance of sheltered housing for social and planning policy purposes lies in the enormous challenge our society faces from an ageing population.

MAKING PROVISION FOR "THE DEMOGRAPHIC SHIFT" IN THE UK'S POPULATION

  The 2001 Population Projections, released in November 2001 and, more recently, data from the 2001 Census, clearly shows the ageing of the population. Life expectancy at birth is projected to rise from 75.5 in 2000 to 78.9 years in 2025 for men and from 80.3 in 2000 to 83.2 for women by 2025.

  There are now more people aged over 60 than there are children under 16. The proportion of the population aged over 60 has increased from 16% in 1951 to 21%, with those aged 85 and over rising from 0.4% to 1.9%.

PLANNING FOR SUSTAINABLE HOUSING AND COMMUNITIES

  The Committee is inquiring into planning for sustainable housing and communities, with reference to the Deputy Prime Minister's Statement of 18 July and, in particular, whether the proposals he set out are desirable and achievable. This submission will focus on the Committee's question about the extent to which decisions relating to housing should be taken by central and local government. There is currently little national or regional planning guidance on how to make provision for an ageing population, and in particular the role of sheltered housing. In January 2001 the former Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions and the Department of Health jointly published "Quality and Choice for Older People's Housing—A Strategic Framework" which stated:

"The increasing older population poses a challenge for social policy generally, and housing policy specifically . . . Effective housing, allied to the right care, support and wider services, such as good transport and community safety, can be the springboard that enables older people to remain involved and live their lives to the full . . . Moving to good quality sheltered housing in the public and private sector. . . enables older people to retain their independence in a home appropriate to their needs whilst receiving support, security and company . . .".

  The planning system has a key role to play in facilitating housing choice for older people, thereby enabling them to live independent lives at the heart of existing communities in towns and cities. It is important that land use planning policies should explicitly address such issues and play a role in meeting the identified needs of the growing number of older people. PPG 3 "Housing" encourages new development to be focused in and around existing communities in order to deliver accessibility to health facilities, shopping, leisure and public transport. It also places emphasis on local authorities using planning policies to secure an appropriate mix of dwelling size, type and affordability to meet the changing composition of households in order to enable people to move as their circumstances change both within and across tenures.

UDP, STRUCTURE AND LOCAL PLAN POLICIES

  As local planning policies set the context for development control decisions, it is important that UDPs/Local Plans (or their replacement) should address the specific needs, including housing, of the elderly. It is also important that the approach towards sheltered housing in spatial terms is linked to the principles and provisions of Community Strategies (introduced in the Local Government Act 2000).

  A number of UDP, Structure and Local Plans have relevant or related policies on housing for older people, though the emphasis tends to be on residential care/nursing homes with more generalised references to other forms of accommodation for the elderly. Some plans contain policies which specifically address such issues or set the needs of the elderly within the broader context of supported housing provision

  We would wish to see national Government guidance emphasise that the housing needs of older people be taken into account in forward plan making. The resulting policies should focus on principles, rather than specifics, be flexible enough to respond to changing requirements, including those in rural areas; should encourage positive provision for sheltered or retirement housing and concentrate solely on relevant material planning considerations.

Housing needs Surveys

  The Group would submit that, to date, structure, local and UDP policies do not adequately reflect the diversity of housing need for which they should be making provision. In particular, they rarely identify the scale of provision required for the growing numbers of elderly people. This reflects the failure of most Housing Needs Surveys to do much more than identify general needs affordable housing requirements. Local authorities have a duty to identify all housing needs and PPG 3 acknowledges that sheltered housing meets one such need. Government Good Practice Guidance sets out detailed advice on how to conduct surveys of housing needs, recognises that the assessment of needs for a range of vulnerable groups should be carried out and notes that older people are a key category amongst such groups.

  The creation of sustainable communities will, in future, require far greater attention to be paid to the needs of elderly people within the community and the housing market. We believe that ODPM guidance on Housing Needs Surveys should emphasise the need for the scale of needs in the market to be identified and that specific policies should be required for this important aspect of provision in the Local Development Frameworks (LDFs) that are to replace local plans.

The Future Role of Planning Inspectors

  The Deputy Prime Minister's proposal that Planning Inspectors should, in future, consider the Plan as a whole, and not solely objections raised to it, provides an opportunity for the Government to issue guidance to Inspectors so that they may put specific questions about the research and information backing policies, their adequacy in identifying the composition of the local community and whether they make suitable provision to meet the housing needs of each part of the local community.

CONCLUSION

  We believe, therefore, that both central and local government has an important role to play in planning to meet the housing needs of all sections of the community. Planning for diversity must be a key factor in such policies if the communities of the future are to be inclusive and vibrant.

  In particular, we believe central and local government's planning strategies should recognise, and take account of, the demographic shift and the growing numbers of older people. This will ensure that they are able to continue to live full and independent lives in the community (a government objective confirmed again in DETR/DH's "Quality and Choice for Older People's Housing—A Strategic Framework").