New towns taskforce report lacks a strategy for creating accessible housing for disabled people | Latest news

By Christina McGill,  Habinteg's Director of Social Impact and External Affairs

The government’s ambition for a new generation of new towns has the potential to create widespread positive social change, just as their post-war predecessors did. However, it was disappointing to read the New Towns Taskforce’s final report, which identifies specific locations for the towns and makes recommendations on how they might be designed and delivered.

While it mentions an ambition to build “genuinely mixed communities”, it does not contain a real strategy on how to create them, and does not mention disabled people’s needs.

“Genuinely mixed communities” can’t be created without accessible homes; they support older and disabled people to live independently and safely.

In England, we have increasing rates of disability, yet according to unpublished English Housing Survey figures, just 13% of homes currently have the most basic level of accessibility - that means that 87% are not.

Given our ageing population, it’s good to see that the taskforce’s report mentions the need for “homes for older people, as well as specialist housing built to accessible and adaptable standards.”

But this wording is dangerously misleading. ‘Accessible and adaptable homes’ is a technical standard set out in Building Regulations M4(2). It is not a “specialist housing” standard in and of itself (although can be used in specialist provision). It is a standard for ordinary homes that provide for ease of living and efficient adaptation if the occupants’ needs change over time.

Such inclusive design would help address the housing needs of disabled and older people, yes, but would also benefit others including families with babies and toddlers for example.

Developing accessible and adaptable housing makes new places more sustainable. They meet the needs of a wide range of occupants over their lifespan, are cheaper and easier to adapt when the need arises and provide independence and improved wellbeing, as well as fostering more inclusive communities.

New towns also need to acknowledge the housing needs of wheelchair users, since an accessible and adaptable home should be easy for them to visit but can only go so far in accommodating their daily living requirements.

One of Habinteg’s campaigners, Kerry Thompson, who is a wheelchair user, lived in an inaccessible one-bedroom home for four years, where she said, she was “existing, not living”. She told me that moving into an accessible property, where she can use all rooms and the garden, has allowed her to live the life she wants. She has a job, an active social life, is married, and has an established track record as a blogger and disability activist.

The only way that wheelchair users’ housing needs can be met is to offer homes built to a suitable accessibility standard. And as Kerry’s story shows, the result of living in one means that occupants are less likely to need assistance with daily tasks and are more likely to be able to move around and use the entirety of the home. This provides the basis for fulfilling personal ambitions and potential, improves health and wellbeing outcomes and on a financial level reduces pressure on care and health services.

The government clearly sees the link between accessibility, health and housing having published its updated Healthy Homes Standard, applicable to those involved in deploying Homes England investment funding. This proposes core requirements for all homes to be built to the accessible and adaptable standard, and for plans to include a proportion of homes built to wheelchair user dwelling standard.

Although it’s not abundantly clear what the effect of this guidance will be on Homes England funded development, it would be heartening to see the same principles reflected in the new towns prospectus when it comes. Accessible and adaptable homes need not be much more costly to build if the commitment is made at the outset – with estimates ranging from around £640 to just £1,300 per dwelling depending on housing type.

And these minimal upfront costs enable savings on future costs of health and social care, as well as reduce expenditure on home adaptations which can otherwise be far greater in the long run.
Wheelchair user properties are by their nature a bit more expensive but still provide significant value.

 Our report, Living not existing: The economic and social value of wheelchair user homes – commissioned from the London School of Economics (LSE) – evaluated the cost benefit of wheelchair accessible properties. It showed that a wheelchair user home occupied by a later years’ household provides benefits worth around £100,000 over a ten-year period with its ‘extra’ cost to build averaging at just £18,000.

For a working-age adult wheelchair user the 10-year benefit is valued at £94,000 with an average additional cost to build of £22,000. These value calculations combine reduced public expenditure with revenue generated when disabled people or their families can take up or increase paid work.

Investment in new towns must drive long term value to the nation.

This is why as co-chair, of the Housing Made for Everyone (HoME) coalition, Habinteg, and its access consultancy, the Centre for Accessible Environments, are urging the government to require new towns housing to meet the M4(2) accessible and adaptable standard as a minimum, with a portion built to the M4(3) wheelchair dwelling standard.

This is a crucial one-time opportunity to create communities with accessibility baked in from the start, to not only support greater health and wellbeing outcomes, but to drive economic inclusion and reduce pressure for the long term on health and social care spending.

This article was first published in Housing Today on 30 October 2025.