Planning Regulations
I’m currently in the process of building a new house and I’ve just had to steer my way through all the new planning regulations. In particular, the new disablement access which now has to be built into every house. This is madness. It’s the nanny state gone totally insane.
I’ve absolutely nothing against disabled people, nor would I want to be perceived as being predjudiced against them in any way but… if we carry on bringing in more and more building regulations in the way that we are, we might just as well start designing the most boring buildings we can think of! For example, let’s only build bungalows with one floor and single height internal floors. No steps allowed whatsoever and… let’s make sure that the entire ground area is accessible to a turbo-charged, wide width wheelchair with wing mirrors. Everything in the house must be a standard height using standardised furniture and, of course, standardised colours (so as not to upset people with colour vision problems).
I have a bad back and it actually hurts me to stand at a conventional height work unit in the kitchen. I’ve suggested building something about 50mm higher which makes all the difference to me but guess what… apparently I’ll be contravening design legislation. Aghhhh! More to come on this!
