New Clause 30 - Access for disabled people
Planning and Compulsory Purchase (Re-committed) Bill
11:00 am
'(1) In the principal Act for section 76 (Duty to draw attention to certain provisions for benefit of disabled) there is substituted the following section—
''76 Access Statements
(1) Any application for planning permission shall not be entertained by the local planning authority, or as the case may be, by the Secretary of State unless it is accompanied by an access statement.
(2) An 'access statement' is a statement which demonstrates that the applicant has fully considered the access requirements of disabled people in relation to the whole development and has described how they intend to meet them.
(3) An access statement shall, in particular, demonstrate that the proposed development complies with relevant statutory duties, relevant access standards and any policies on inclusive design included in the local planning authority's development plan.
(4) Relevant statutory duties include—
(a) the duties of persons providing buildings to which the public are to be admitted, under sections 4 and 7 of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970 to make provision for members of the public who are disabled;
(b) the duties of persons providing universities, schools, offices and other premises, under sections 7, 8 and 8A of that Act, to make provision for people who are disabled;
(c) the duties of employers and trade organisations, under sections 6 and 15 of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and under any code of practice issued by the Disability Rights Commission under section 53A of that Act, to make adjustments to premises; and
(d) the duties of service providers, under section 21 of that Act and under any code of practice issued by the Disability Rights Commission under section 53A of that Act, to make adjustments to premises
(e) the duties of education providers, under section 28T of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and under any code of practice issued by the Disability Rights Commission under section 53A of that Act;
(3) Relevant access standards include—
(a) British Standard 8300 ''Designing buildings and their approaches to meet the needs of disabled people'' or any document replacing it; and
(b) in the case of developments related to new housing, the Lifetime Homes standard.''
(2) In the principal Act, after section 76 there is inserted the following section—
''76A.Duty to have special regard to needs of disabled people
(1) In dealing with an application to which this section applies the local planning authority, or as the case may be, the Secretary of State shall have special regard to the needs of disabled people and in particular the duties and standards mentioned in section 76.
(2) This section applies to—
(a) an application under sections 62 or 73 for planning permission;
(b) an application under section 92 for the approval of reserved matters; and
(c) an application for the approval of details required under a condition of a grant of planning permission (including a permission granted by a development order).
(3) In this section, the terms ''disabled'' and ''disabled people'' shall be construed in accordance with section 1 of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995.''
(3) In the Listed Buildings Act 1990—
(a) in section 16 (decision on application), after subsection (2) there is inserted the following subsection—
''(2A) In considering whether to grant listed building consent for any works or to approve details under a condition of a listed building consent, the local planning authority or the Secretary of State shall also have special regard to the needs of disabled people.''
(b) in section 91(2) (interpretation), before ''development plan'', there is inserted ''disabled people,''.
(4) In the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979—
(a) in section 2 (control of works affecting scheduled monuments), after subsection (3) there is inserted the following subsection—
''(3A) In considering whether to grant scheduled monument consent for any works or to approve details under a condition of such a consent, the Secretary of State shall have special regard to the needs of disabled people.''
(b) in section 61(1) (interpretation), before ''designation order'' there is inserted—
''''disabled people'' has the same meaning as in the Disability Discrimination Act 1995;''.'—[Matthew Green.]
Brought up, and read the First time.