Draft London Plan 2026: What Has Changed for Older Persons’ Housing, Specialist Housing and Inclusive Design?

A Shift from Micro- to Macro-Scale

Perhaps the most significant change is the move away from relying on individual planning applications to secure policy objectives. The current London Plan establishes robust requirements for accessibility, specialist housing and inclusive design. However, developers have carried much of the responsibility for bringing forward suitable sites.

The Draft Plan instead places greater emphasis on boroughs planning proactively. Inclusive design, accessible neighbourhoods and varied housing choices are expected to be embedded within local plans, design codes and large-scale masterplans from the outset. Boroughs are also expected to undertake more robust assessments of specialist housing needs, strengthening the evidence base for allocating land and planning positively for future demand.

This represents a welcome shift, recognising that successful places are shaped long before individual planning applications are submitted. Embedding these principles at the strategic planning stage should reduce ad hoc, site-by-site negotiations that have characterised delivery under the current Plan. Furthermore, it should broaden the knowledge of local planning teams in terms of these types of housing, which should make the planning process on individual sites smoother.

 

Quantifiable Delivery Targets

The Draft London Plan 2026 has the potential to represent a step change in how specialist housing is planned.

Rather than relying on speculative proposals, the Draft Plan requires boroughs to identify and allocate sites specifically for specialist and supported housing. This should provide much greater certainty for providers while ensuring that provision is planned alongside wider housing growth. The Draft Plan also recognises the role that specialist housing plays alongside health and adult social care, reinforcing its importance as part of London’s wider social infrastructure rather than as a niche housing product.

The introduction of a London-wide delivery target of 22,805 specialist and supported homes is another significant development. The absence of a strategic target in the current Plan has contributed to little delivery across boroughs. Requiring boroughs to plan positively for specialist housing through their local plans should strengthen the regional planning framework and provide greater accountability.

However, there is an important caveat. The headline figure excludes market older persons’ housing, meaning the overall requirement for housing suitable for an ageing population is substantially higher than the published target. Given that only around 16% of housing is affordable, excluding market provision risks underestimating overall need and reinforcing the misconception that specialist housing is solely an affordable housing issue.

 

Supported Housing and Older Persons’ Housing Grouped

One of the more interesting changes is the decision to group supported housing and older persons’ housing within a single strategic policy.

The current London Plan treats these housing types more distinctly, whereas the Draft adopts a broader category covering specialist and supported housing.

While there are understandable reasons for adopting a strategic overview, there are also risks, particularly as these types of housing can straddle different use classes. Older persons’ housing, extra care, supported living, mental health accommodation, as well as other forms of specialist housing, all respond to different needs. They also operate under different funding models and require different locational considerations. Grouping them together may simplify strategic planning but could also mask shortfalls in particular sectors. A more refined approach to identifying delivery targets for different specialist housing types would provide greater certainty for the different types of housing.

 

Inclusive Design at a Larger Scale

The Draft Plan does not fundamentally rewrite London’s inclusive design policies, but it does reposition them.

The emphasis shifts away from development management towards strategic planning. Inclusive design is expected to inform local plans, masterplans and design codes, helping to embed accessibility much earlier in the planning process and supporting the creation of lifetime neighbourhoods where people can remain throughout different stages of their lives.

The Draft also encourages buildings to accommodate changing needs over time, reinforcing the principle of ageing in place. This is particularly important given the majority of older people remain in their family home.

However, there remain opportunities for the policy to go further. While the Plan continues to promote inclusive environments, it remains relatively high-level and does not fully address dementia-friendly design, neurodiversity, or sensory and cognitive accessibility at a strategic scale. Inclusive design is still largely viewed through the lens of physical accessibility; a primary focus of the Draft Plan is lift provision, despite wider thinking across the sector. It definitely feels that the Draft Plan should be a bit more ambitious in this regard.

 

Accessible Housing

Perhaps surprisingly, the accessible housing standards themselves remain largely unchanged.

The requirement for M4(2) accessible and adaptable housing continues as the baseline for almost all new homes, while the overall proportion of M4(3) wheelchair-user dwellings remains the same at 10%.

The key refinement is that the Draft now distinguishes between affordable and market housing. It requires 10% of affordable homes to be wheelchair-accessible from first occupation, while developers should provide market homes as wheelchair-adaptable. This should result in more homes being immediately available for wheelchair users rather than requiring future adaptation, although similarly to the housing targets this tends to assume that wheelchair-accessible homes are not required in the private market, which is untrue.

One area where the Draft Plan is explicit in design expectations is for pick-up and drop-off facilities. In a dense urban environment such as London, where space is at a premium, safe and convenient drop-off arrangements are essential for older people, disabled residents and care providers, but, interestingly, this relatively minor aspect of design is explicitly referenced.

 

Affordable Housing

The Draft Plan continues to require older persons’ housing to comply with affordable housing requirements.

Schemes meeting the relevant affordable housing thresholds can still benefit from the Fast Track Route, avoiding lengthy viability negotiations and providing greater certainty through the planning process.

Whether this remains sufficient to stimulate delivery, particularly in the private market, is another question. Construction costs remain high, financing is expensive and the residential market continues to face significant challenges. Even with streamlined planning routes, viability remains a genuine concern across much of the sector, and it is likely there will still be a significant number of applications pushing for lower affordable housing provisions. Stronger planning policy alone will not deliver more specialist housing unless schemes are viable.

 

Looking Ahead

The Draft London Plan consultation, launched on 16 July 2026, is open for comments until 5pm on Thursday, 15 October 2026.

Overall, the Draft London Plan 2026 represents an evolution rather than a wholesale rewrite of planning policy for older persons’ housing and inclusive design.

Its greatest strength lies in its stronger strategic focus. The Draft Plan requires boroughs to identify need, allocate sites and embed inclusive design principles within local plans and masterplans. This shifts the focus from simply setting standards to ensuring delivery.

There are still areas where the Plan could go further, particularly in distinguishing between different forms of specialist housing and broadening its interpretation of inclusive design beyond physical accessibility. Nevertheless, the direction of travel is positive. If implemented effectively, the Draft Plan should provide a more robust framework for delivering the specialist housing that London will increasingly need as its population continues to age.

 

You can read the consultation documents and submit your response via the Greater London Authority consultation portal: Draft London Plan, Draft London Plan Consultation 2026. These are external links and will open on a new webpage.

 

Written by Mark Slater, Managing Director

 

 

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