Building Regulations, Part M (Hansard, 9 March 1998)

§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (Baroness Hayman)

Further to the Answer given by my honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (Mr. Nick Raynsford) in another place on 11 June 1997, (Official Report, Vol. 295, col. 472) to a similar question from the honourable Member for Sutton and Cheam, we are pleased to announce that Part M of the Building Regulations, covering access and facilities for disabled people, is to be extended to include new dwellings. This decision has been taken following a thorough consideration of the responses to the consultation on the subject issued by the previous government in January 1995 and discussion with the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the House Builders Federation. The purpose of these proposed measures is to allow people to be able to invite disabled people to visit them in their own homes, and for home owners to be able to remain in their own homes longer as they become less mobile as they get older.

The benefits of these changes will be very considerable—more than 10 million people will benefit. In particular there will be direct benefits of increased convenience, accessibility and sociability for disabled people. The measures will also help significantly those people who are temporarily disabled through accident or injury, the elderly and those with young children in prams and pushchairs.

The extension of Part M is an important measure that complements this Government's commitment to implement the remaining duties of Part III of the Disability Discrimination Act. Part III will improve disabled people's access to goods and services and Part M will ensure better access to new domestic dwellings. This is, therefore, a key obligation for this Government, who are committed to social inclusion. It is better and more cost effective for new homes to be designed and built with proper facilities—as already happens with new public and commercial buildings—than to rely on later piecemeal adjustments.

The measures to be included in the approved document will cover:

level entry to the principal, or a suitable alternative, entrance
an entrance door wide enough to allow wheelchair access
WC provision on the entrance or first habitable storey
adequate circulation and wider doors within the entrance storey
switches and socket outlets at appropriate heights from floor level
level or gently sloping approach from the car parking space to the dwelling, or where this is not possible, easy-going steps, but not a stepped ramp
where a lift is to be provided in flats, a minimum lift capacity and dimensions will be recommended
where a lift is not provided, the common stairs to be designed to suit the needs of the ambulant disabled.

These measures reflect those set out in the original consultation paper, although it is not proposed to make provision for a 300 mm offset inside, and next to the entrance door.

Amendment regulations will be laid later this year which will extend Part M of the building regulations to cover new dwellings. A new Approved Document will be prepared in readiness for publication at the same time which will set out ways in which the requirements of the regulations can be met, and will suggest circumstances where certain of the measures may not be appropriate.

To allow adequate time for guidance to be developed in support of the proposals, and in particular that for level thresholds, and also to allow time for building workers to become trained in the new techniques that will be necessary, it is proposed the amendment regulations will come into force one year after they are laid.

If, however, those building new dwellings in the intervening period were to incorporate the proposed measures voluntarily it would greatly benefit the stock of accessible housing.