Almost a third (32%) of local authorities have no clear policies in place to support housing for seniors, according to a new report.

The findings are revealed in research by global property consultancy Knight Frank and law firm Irwin Mitchell.

Oliver Knight, partner and head of residential research at Knight Frank, said: “While previous research has shown significant progress, our latest analysis suggests that over the last two years, the pace of change has stalled. A third of local authorities are still to adopt specific planning policies and site allocations addressing seniors housing. Some 34 have moved backwards over the last two years. The appetite from investors and developers to deliver more age-appropriate housing is clear and growing. A more consistent and supportive policy environment will unlock more supply, more propositions, and more choice for seniors.”

The survey ranks local authorities between ‘A’ and ‘D’ according to the provisions in their local plans towards seniors housing. Those local authorities with an A rating had clear policies indicating details of the required number of dwellings and care home beds and how this will be achieved together with specific site allocations for such development, whereas those with a D rating had neither clear policies nor site allocation. 

Out of 326 local authorities in England 75 (23 %) were graded A, 100 (33.7%) were graded B, 47 (14.4%) were graded C and 104 (31.9%) were graded D.

Nicola Gooch, planning partner at Irwin Mitchell, said: “Planning remains one of the biggest challenges facing the seniors housing sector in England. It’s now 2024, seven years since we started running this survey, and there are still less than a quarter of A graded local authorities – only 75 out of 326 that have both clear policies in place and site allocations. The number of councils not adequately planning for an ageing population remains significant. More concerningly, the rate of change has stalled over the last two years, meaning that we are failing to make progress just when the need is becoming increasingly acute.”

Knight Frank and Irwin Mitchell also revealed the 15 opportunity areas ripe for development of seniors’ housing across England (see table below).