The fight for true housing accessibility in Wells, Somerset | Policy blog

Accessible Wells , a campaign group in Wells, Somerset, is working to make the city more accessible, inclusive and welcoming to disabled people. The group’s recent activities have seen them take Somerset Council to task about all planned housing developments that don’t include wheelchair accessible homes. See what group member, Theo van Hensbergen, has to say about how their campaign began and what steps they are taking to push for an increase in accessible homes in their area.

How did your campaign group come about?

Bob Payne, Brian Clarke and I set up Accessible Wells in 2022, after Brian became a wheelchair user, following a Motor Neurone Disease diagnosis, and discovered that Wells is full of accessibility challenges.

Our campaign work urging Somerset Council and Wells City Council to improve pavements for disabled access, which began in 2023, has yielded numerous improvements. 

We’re concerned about our planning authority, Somerset Council, approving new developments that don’t include both wheelchair adaptable and wheelchair accessible homes. The council has no Local Plan policy for development of new wheelchair user homes. So, we’re objecting to proposed housing developments in Wells on the basis that the council is, in our opinion, breaching the Equality Act 2010, and government guidance relating to meeting the housing needs of disabled people.

What are your campaign’s aims?

Accessible Wells has a range of aims, which include:

•  Ensuring Wells has a mix of wheelchair adaptable and wheelchair accessible homes.
•  Educating people in Wells about what wheelchair users need from their homes to drive local support to and help improve things.
• Ensuring the new Local Plan (expected to be complete in 2029) results in policies that reflect the long-term needs of wheelchair users.
•   Urging Somerset Council to introduce an emergency accessible homes quota prior to the new plan.
•  Developing constructive relationships with local developers, so they better understand what wheelchair users need from homes to be able to live independent lives.

Through our work we hope to see a significant increase in the number of new homes in Wells that fully meet the needs of wheelchair users.

How can you plan effectively for accessible homes?

In Somerset Council’s Local Housing Needs Assessment 2025 (LHNA), there’s a section covering wheelchair accessible homes, which they’ve called “adaptable homes”. We don’t just need *wheelchair adaptable homes; we also need homes designed to be wheelchair-accessible from the outset.

Effective planning means directly involving wheelchair users in the process – we’re advocating for co-production. Good data is also important: a Freedom of Information Request reply we received from Somerset Council seemed to show it has no useful information about the number of existing wheelchair accessible homes. The Local Housing Needs Assessment 2025 had no such data, either.

What can people do to increase planning and development of accessible housing in their area?

We urge people to write to their local councillor, MP and/or your local newspaper to demand change. Our Accessible Wells website has useful resources on campaigning for more accessible housing.

Wheelchair users living in unsuitable homes can complain formally to their council. If their council doesn’t respond adequately, they can take the complaint to the Housing Ombudsman.

We believe that all councillors and local authority management teams should receive mandatory training in the Equality Act and disability discrimination - and it needs to be a published measure.

*In English Building Regulations, M4(3) Category 3 – ‘Wheelchair User Dwellings’ is split into two sub-types: Category 3 2a – ‘Wheelchair adaptable’ (providing space and layout features, but not fully fitted out), and Category 3 2b – ‘Wheelchair accessible’ (ready and fitted to accommodate wheelchair user household).

Images: Top; Accessible Wells group; middle left; Theo and Brian.

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If you want to find out about the number of accessible homes being planned in your region, read our recent insight report: A forecast for accessible homes 2025: Accessible housing in local plans.

Habinteg has an inclusive design consultancy, the Centre for Accessible Environments (CAE), which provides professional consultancy and training for developers on M4(2) and M4(3) housing. Habinteg and CAE’s The Inclusive Housing Design Guide and the Wheelchair User Housing Design Guide give clear advice on how to meet and surpass the requirements for M4(2) and M4(3) housing.