The Disability Discrimination Act could flood the planning system with a deluge of applications as companies rush to comply with the Disability Discrimination Act, Donaldsons is warning.
David van der Lande, head of the DDA team at Donaldsons, said: “Local Planning Authorities have quite a task on their hands and under the DDA they will not be paid for these applications as is normally the case. The government needs to look at not only giving some form of assistance to the Local Authorities, but also at relaxing some of the regulations.”
“Unless the government enables them to set up a form of fast tracking facility to deal with the expected influx there could be huge delays in the granting of all planning applications.”
The Act, which will protect rights of access for approximately 10.5m disabled people, demands that all buildings will have to be made accessible to people with disabilities by 2004, by ramps and other external features being added to properties. In many cases this will require planning consent and permission from the Local Highways Authority.
The Act would also have a huge impact on landlords, according to Keith Martin, head of the corporate division at Donaldsons.
“Landlords may think that making the necessary changes is not their responsibility, however although liability will rest with some tenants, in a multi-let buildings it will be the landlords who will be held accountable for making the adjustments,” he said.
However, according to the Disability Rights Commission, under the Act landlords would only be penalised if they “unreasonably denied tenants permission to put an application forward”.
The DDA code of practice states that a landlord will be viewed as reasonably withholding consent if the alteration would decrease the value of the property or if it would cause disruption in a multi-let building.
Martin added that there was a risk of overspending on preparations and still not actually complying with the Act.
“All properties should be properly audited. We have already seen ramps installed where they are not needed as a result of inappropriate advice. At an average cost for a ramp of £20,000 clients will need to avoid mistakes,” he said.
Donaldsons also warned that landlords who do not comply with the Act promptly may find it difficult to let space as the 2004 deadline for compliance approaches, as occupiers will prefer to lease properties that already comply with the Act.
EGi News 24/07/01
