Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer to Question 189778 on 20 June 2023 on Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities: Disability, how many projects his Department have commissioned to increase high street accessibility for disabled people through local growth funding in the last three years by location.

We have engaged extensively with stakeholders including local authority officers, the LGA, charities and networks representing disabled people and sector leads to develop the pavement licensing measures. Pavement licence provisions were amended to ensure that the impacts on disabled people are fully taken into consideration by local authorities when making decisions.

The needs of disabled persons must be taken into account by the authority when determining whether furniture put on the highway would be an unacceptable obstruction. In doing so, authorities are required to have regard to the needs of disabled people and the recommended distances required for access by disabled people, as set out in guidance issued by the Secretary of State.

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities does not centrally collect data on the number of projects delivered by local authorities which seek to increase high street accessibility.