Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to ensure new housing developments are built with adequate space for emergency service vehicles to (a) enter and (b) manoeuvre.

Approved Document B (Fire safety) provides statutory guidance on meeting the requirements of Part B of the Building Regulations. It includes provisions relating to adequate vehicular access for fire and rescue services, including requirements on the width, and turning arrangements of access routes, so that fire and rescue service vehicles can both enter and manoeuvre within new housing developments. Building control bodies are responsible for checking that new developments comply with these requirements before work is signed off.

The Department does not hold centrally collected data on the number of existing homes with inadequate access space for emergency service vehicles.