Committee
Public Petitions Committee 31 March 2015
31 Mar 2015 · S4 · Public Petitions Committee
Item of business
New Petitions
Disabled-friendly Housing (PE1554)
Jacq Kelly
Watch on SPTV
Stephan is talking about cost. The estimated cost of one hip fracture caused by somebody falling over is £28,000, which puts the £1,100 cost of adaptation into perspective. Stephan has friends who are wheelchair users who will not come round to his house because they cannot go to the bathroom in their wheelchairs. Particularly when somebody’s mobility is already restricted, it is simply unacceptable that they cannot have visitors to their house because the bathroom is not accessible. The cost of putting in the grab rails would be much cheaper if the house had been built to lifetime standards and the doors been widened in the first place. There is a proposed change in the building regulations that will enable builders to make bathrooms smaller than they are currently required to, which means that, if a bathroom needs to be adapted in the future and turned into a wet room or a room big enough for a wheelchair to navigate around, it will be even harder to achieve. I am sorry to have interrupted, Stephan. 11:00
In the same item of business
The Convener
Lab
The final new petition is PE1554, by Jacq Kelly, on behalf of Leonard Cheshire Disability, on improving the provision of disabled-friendly housing. Members h...
Jacq Kelly (Leonard Cheshire Disability)
Our petition calls on the Scottish Government to make lifetime home standards the standard for ordinary builds and for 10 per cent of those builds to be whee...
Stephan Thomson
I live in a house that is supposed to be wheelchair adapted, but it is actually just a wheelchair-friendly house. As for the point that Jacq Kelly made about...
Jacq Kelly
Stephan is talking about cost. The estimated cost of one hip fracture caused by somebody falling over is £28,000, which puts the £1,100 cost of adaptation in...
Stephan Thomson
It is true that, when you are in a wheelchair, the hallways and doors in a house are not wide enough and you end up damaging your property because you bash i...
The Convener
Lab
I thank Jacq Kelly for her presentation and Stephan Thomson for highlighting some of his personal difficulties and experiences with his house. Do members hav...
David Torrance
SNP
Good morning. I fully support your petition. Should local authorities play a greater role when replacing existing council housing with accessible new builds?...
Jacq Kelly
Definitely. We are finding that councils need to be compelled to do that, because they are not doing it. There are two things to mention. First, we have fou...
John Wilson
Ind
Good morning. Ms Kelly, you mentioned accessible homes, but the definition of accessible can vary widely. Stephan Thomson gave a good example. His house woul...
Jacq Kelly
In the campaign that we at Leonard Cheshire are running, we have spoken about disabled-friendly houses, which are different from accessible homes. Stephan Th...
John Wilson
Ind
Have you had any discussions with house builders? In such debates, we usually end up talking about council or housing association provision but not getting i...
Jacq Kelly
We have had no such discussions yet, but we have pinpointed two private house builders that are building disabled-friendly homes out of choice because they s...
Angus MacDonald
SNP
The petition strikes me as one of the most commonsense petitions to have come before the committee since I joined it. I was interested to hear the comments a...
Jacq Kelly
We are not falling over those examples, to be honest with you. On your point about the building standards, I was looking at the handbook this morning. It is...
The Convener
Lab
I see that there are no other questions from members. In that case, what action is the committee prepared to take?
Kenny MacAskill
SNP
We should write to the Government. As Angus MacDonald said, a lot of this is common sense. If action was taken to ensure that walls are capable of taking gra...
David Torrance
SNP
I agree. It was mentioned that two companies—one in Fife and one in Glasgow—are building disabled-friendly homes. We should write to them, as it would be int...
Jacq Kelly
Stephan Thomson wants to make a point about good practice that he knows about.
Stephan Thomson
A friend of mine has a house that is designed for wheelchairs. I have been into her home, which is an absolutely amazing house. All the kitchen units and wor...
David Torrance
SNP
Could we write to all the local authorities to see what percentage of new-build housing is disabled friendly?
The Convener
Lab
Yes. Before we return to the action points, I have a question for Jacq Kelly. What is the least disabled-friendly housing? Is it new builds or old housing, o...
Jacq Kelly
They are probably both still the same, although that might depend on where people are. I imagine that, in an old city such as Edinburgh, the old builds are p...
The Convener
Lab
Colleagues, do we agree to write to the Scottish Government, Local Authority Building Standards Scotland, the Lifetime Homes foundation and the Convention of...
John Wilson
Ind
I suggest that we also write to Homes for Scotland, as the trade body for house builders, and to the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations, as the body...
The Convener
Lab
I have just been advised that, if we write to all the local authorities, there will be no requirement to write to COSLA. Do colleagues agree to take the appr...
The Convener
Lab
I thank Jacq Kelly and Stephan Thomson for attending. Meeting closed at 11:16.