There is much more that planning can do to support the creation of lifetime
neighbourhoods. As the ILC-UK report on Lifetime Neighbourhoods (see Chapter 8) makes clear, planning at both the regional and local levels should promote the concept through Regional Spatial Strategies and Local Development Frameworks. Linked to their role as strategic leaders and place-shapers, we want to see local authorities working with stakeholders and local communities to develop flexible approaches to providing housing, shared open spaces and infrastructure which recognise the needs of all. Reflecting its spatial nature, the role of planning should go beyond providing appropriate housing and a high quality built environment to
ensuring access to services, promoting social cohesion and a sense of place.
National Planning Policy Statements already support the principles underpinning lifetime neighbourhoods:
• PPS 1 recognises the importance of personal well-being in creating sustainable communities. In particular, the location of housing in relation to essential services such as health care, primary schools and retail services are a key factor in enabling residents to maintain sustainable patterns of living throughout their life course.
• PPS 3 promotes inclusive, mixed communities and the development of sustainable housing which provides access to amenities for older people and those with disabilities.
• PPS 6 supports the development of accessible town centres which provide genuine choice to meet the needs of the entire community.
• PPG 13 seeks to ensure safe and easy access for all to housing, shops and services by a choice of modes including public transport, walking and cycling, in order to promote social inclusion.
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Actions
Planning will respond to the needs of an ageing population through better intelligence, ensuring that:
• Regions and local authorities publish Strategic Housing Market Assessments as quickly as practicable, identifying future older person households as a key element in development.
• The advice that NHPAU will be producing in the Spring will support regional and local planning for housing in the future, taking account of future demographic changes, including increasing numbers of older households. In addition,
• Communities and Local Government will make available projections of older households and their size at district and regional level to aid planning. To promote better planning we will ensure that:
• Planning Policy Statement 3 (PPS 3) requiring regions and local planning bodies to assess and plan for the housing needs of the whole community, including older people is well understood and implemented by local planning authorities.
• Planners have the tools and understand the need for Regional Spatial Strategies and Local Development Frameworks to assess and plan for an ageing society.
In addition, we will support planning authorities:
• By promoting Regional planning road shows which will raise awareness and support local planning for ageing
• By ensuring that future planning policy reform will reflect the high priority we are giving to the challenge of ageing
• By requiring local authorities to promote higher standards of housing design
• By working with CABE to develop on-line tools which integrate design principles for regional and local planning
• By working with local authorities through the Planning Advisory Service and others to develop exemplary examples of plans that address housing need.
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Chapter 10: Housing, Health and Care
Summary
Decent housing makes a fundamental difference to mental and physical health and well-being and has a critical contribution to make to the value and
effectiveness of the health and care systems. But these services do not always join up well, and, housing can sometimes be left out of the equation. When this happens, and if housing is not joined up with health and care, or if interventions come too late, housing becomes part of the problem not the solution. We will therefore continue to prioritise and improve new ways of bringing the services together around a shared agenda which will consist of:
1. Prevention;
2. Personalisation; and
3. Coordination and integration
In the previous chapters we have set out how we will boost preventative housing servicesthrough investing in proven approaches, such as advice and information, adaptations and repairs, which prevent health and care crises for individuals. However, if we are to make our preventative approaches more effective, we must get much better at identifying the people at risk, and do so much earlier. We will pilot a new approach to transform early intervention and prevention, using predictive risk modelling to accurately identify which people will have a health or care crisis, such as a hospital or care home admission, a year before it happens.
Successful and efficient services that prevent problems and promote well-being require whole systems working. We will take action to furtherjoin-up
assessment, service delivery and commissioningto deliver better personal outcomes for older people. This will include the continuing development of the Single Assessment Process to include health, housing, care and benefits. And we will deliver greater personalisation through the use of Personal Budgets and Individual Budgets.