Big increase in councils planning for later living homes

There has been a big increase in the number of councils which are starting to plan for housing for older people, according to a survey by consultants Knight Frank and Irwin Mitchell.

However, despite the improvement made, the survey found that more than a third of local authorities are still making no provision or plan whatsoever for new housing for older people in their local plans.

The is despite the fact that by 2030, the number of people in the UK of pensionable age is projected to have increased by 1.3 million, with the number of over 85s expected to have nearly doubled in number by 2045.

The study found that 36.2% of 326 authorities surveyed had neither policies or site allocations in place for housing for older people, an improvement on the 50% figure recorded the last time the survey was undertaken, in 2020, and significantly better than the 62% seen in 2017.

At the other end of the spectrum, the survey found that less than a quarter of the councils – 23.3% - had both policies in place to support older people’s housing and site allocations in their plans for those homes, which Irwin Mitchell and Knight Frank graded as the best possible position for planning authorities to be in. The figure does, however represent an increase from 18.6% recorded in 2020 and 9.7% in 2017.

Property consultant Knight Frank and Law firm Irwin Mitchell said the data showed that while there had been some improvement in the way local authorities were planning housing for older people “the rate of change is not fast enough, and out of step with the immediacy of the challenge that the country faces in providing enough age-appropriate accommodation.”

Nicola Gooch, planning partner at Irwin Mitchell, said planning policies were still “putting a brake on new development in the sector”, despite the improvement. “We need all local authorities to take a pro-active approach if we are to unlock the full potential of seniors housing in England,” she said.

See also: Removing the barriers to later living development

See also: Later living: A misunderstood market

The firms, however, said they had identified particular opportunities for investment in later living housing, given local plan support, in private “seniors housing” in London and the South east and for affordable seniors housing in London.

Lauren Harwood, head of seniors housing consultancy, at Knight Frank said: “This year’s survey is released against a backdrop of an increasingly difficult development environment; with nutrient and water neutrality issues, insufficient local government resources and local plan failures all making it harder than ever to bring forward new seniors housing schemes.

“With that in mind, it is crucial that developers understand where the opportunities are, and how they can access these to help meet the needs of our seniors.”

The firms, which ranked local authorities from A to D on the basis of their plan preparation, said the key “opportunity areas” it identified were as follows:

Click here for the for report.