Access Statements
From 30 June 2007 it will be a statutory duty for the majority of applications for planning permission and listed building consent to include an Access Statement, which shows how access issues have been fully considered as part of the design of development. Applications which do not include an Access Statement cannot be processed (i.e. registered as valid) unless the application falls within one of the specified exemptions detailed below. Any application received from 30 June 2007 which requires an Access Statement and does not provide one, cannot be accepted and will be returned.
Background
One of the fundamental principles underlying Welsh Assembly Government aspirations is that services and facilities should be accessible to all regardless of age, gender and infirmity. In planning, which deals with land use, one aspect of this is the principle of ‘inclusive design’. New government legislation relevant to the planning application stage has introduced the concept of Access Statements as a way of demonstrating that design, construction, refurbishment and related development decisions have, or will, address the obligations of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (‘ the DDA’).