To ask the Minister for Infrastructure for an update on any progress that has been made in creating an accessible built environment, given the high prevalence of mobility impairments, as noted in the Joseph Rowntree Foundation report entitled, Disability and poverty in Northern Ireland.

I welcome the publication of The Joseph Rowntree Foundation report Disability and Poverty in NI, and I acknowledge the financial pressures facing many disabled people.

Through its oversight role within the two-tier planning system, my Department seeks to ensure that accessibility and inclusive design are embedded in planning policy and decision-making across the north. The Strategic Planning Policy Statement (SPPS) places sustainable development and improved wellbeing for everyone at the heart of the planning system. It requires planning authorities to support the creation of high quality, inclusive and accessible places and to take account of the needs of all sections of the community when preparing Local Development Plans and determining planning applications. My Department’s SPPS is therefore a key mechanism through which accessibility considerations are embedded within the planning process.

In addition, my Department’s Living Places Design Guide, promotes a people-centred approach to placemaking and encourages the design of streets, public spaces and developments that are accessible, connected, and usable by everyone, including older people and those with disabilities or reduced mobility.

The Planning (General Development Procedure) Order (NI) 2015 (SR 2015 No. 72) introduced Design and Access Statement requirements through planning legislation for specified categories of development. These statements require applicants to explain and justify the design principles underpinning a proposal, including how issues relating to access have been considered and addressed. This helps ensure that accessibility considerations are embedded at an early stage in the design process and supports the delivery of more inclusive development.

The Planning (Fees) Regulations (NI) 2015 also make provision to exempt a planning fee for the carrying out of operations for the alteration or extension of an existing dwelling house or the carrying out of operations in the curtilage of an existing dwelling house for the purpose of providing means of access to or within the dwelling house for a disabled person who is resident in, or is proposing to take up residence in, that dwelling house, or of providing facilities designed to secure that person’s greater safety, health or comfort.

Furthermore, my Department's emerging Transport Strategy seeks to support the delivery of a sustainable, safe and accessible transport system that meets the needs of both urban and rural communities. Through better integration between transport modes and a people centred approach to the design of streets and public spaces, the Strategy will help reduce transport related barriers and improve access to employment, education, healthcare and social participation, particularly for people with mobility impairments and others who experience barriers to travel.

While responsibility for delivering an accessible built environment extends across a range of public bodies and sectors, I will continue to engage with councils and other stakeholders to encourage good design and improve accessibility outcomes across the north.