The UK’s population is ageing. New census data shows that the 65+ population in England has grown by almost 20% since 2011. Find out how UK local authorities are supporting this issue and how this will affect our elderly in the coming decades.
Report – An Overview Of UK Seniors’ Housing Planning
We worked with property experts Knight Frank to look at seniors’ housing planning and the progress local authorities are making to provide suitable housing for our ageing population.
Some of our key findings include:
- Over a third (36%) of local authorities don’t currently have clear policies in place to support housing for seniors
- The percentage of local authorities who’ve adopted seniors’ housing planning policies has improved, increasing from 9.7% in 2017 to 23.3%
- The percentage of local authorities with no clear policies to address seniors housing has also reduced – from 62% to 36.2%
- Central government is now supporting the senior housing sector, recently announcing a new cross-departmental task force on housing for older people
While this shows an improvement over the past five years, there’s still a lot more that needs to be done. Currently it still stands that less than a quarter of local authorities have clear senior housing policies in place. This means we won’t be prepared to provide enough suitable housing for our ageing population in the coming years.
Take a look at our report to find out more.
Looking At Areas With The Most Potential For Seniors’ Housing Development
We’re seeing local authorities make promising improvements to their senior housing policies in areas across the UK in our 2022 report, including:
- Cornwall, Northumberland, Leeds and Cheshire West and Chester – the local authorities have adopted more specific seniors housing planning policies in recent years. These areas offer opportunities to develop more affordable seniors housing
- The top five development opportunity areas for affordable seniors housing accommodation are in London
- The top five development opportunity areas for private seniors housing accommodation are also in London.
While there’s lots of opportunity for development, there are many issues getting in the way. These include: insufficient local government resources, local plan failures, rising operational and build costs, as well as a competitive land market. These all make it harder to bring forward new seniors housing schemes.
This means that it’s even more important that our local authorities put more resources into providing seniors housing for our growing elderly population. Our report helps developers understand where the opportunities are, and how they can access these to help meet the needs of our seniors.
Our report reveals 10 regional areas with the most opportunities for development of seniors’ housing across England. Take a look at our report to find out more.
If you're on a slower connection, you may prefer to download the low resolution version of the report.
Key Contacts
To talk to an expert about the issues raised in our report, contact one of the specialists here at Irwin Mitchell or at Knight Frank.
Irwin Mitchell
Nicola Gooch
Partner and Planning Specialist
nicola.gooch@irwinmitchell.com
+44 (0)1293 742 868
Stelios Coutsavlis
Partner and Care Home Development Expert
stelios.coutsavlis@irwinmitchell.com
+44 (0)161 2590 834
Emma Curtis
Business Development Manager
emma.curtis@irwinmitchell.com
+44 (0)20 7400 8788
Knight Frank
Chris Benham
Partner, Planning
chris.benham@knightfrank.com
+44 (0)20 7861 1289
Tom Scaife
Head of Seniors Housing
tom.scaife@knightfrank.com
+44 (0)20 7861 5429
Lauren Harwood
Head of Seniors Housing Consultancy
lauren.harwood@knightfrank.com
+44 (0)20 7268 2599
Cormac Henehan
Seniors Analyst, Seniors Housing Research
cormac.henehan@knightfrank.com
+44 (0)20 3967 7140
