Should builders providing homes for disabled people have to meet stringent, uniform requirements in all circumstances? The issue came before the Lords on October 30 during the committee stage of the government’s Deregulation Bill.

Alistair Lexden drew on research by the highly regarded organisation, Create Streets, which shows that demanding standards, inflexibly applied in urban areas, lead to the building of more flats and fewer houses which is the opposite of what most people want.

‘Might it not be better’, he asked, ‘ to require local councils to ensure an adequate supply of new homes and of new disabled-friendly homes and to take responsibility formally for ensuring that disabled people are housed in the right homes?’

The background to the issue was set out fully in an article ‘Deregulating or re-regulating’ on the Create Streets website on 4 November— www.createstreets.com/news.