Date published: 2025-09-05 | Category: Adult Social Care and Health, Bath, Delivering for local residents, Housing, Planning
Work on an award-winning sustainable housing scheme aimed at transforming the lives of adults with learning disabilities is being considered by Bath & North East Somerset Council’s cabinet.
The council’s Englishcombe Lane Supported Housing Scheme which received planning permission last year will see 16 specialist units providing a calm, sensory-friendly environment with care and support on the site.
Since obtaining planning permission, the scheme has received a national Housing Design Award at a ceremony in London yesterday (September 4), a national Planning Award and was shortlisted in the Design in Mental Health awards.
The development will support residents with learning disabilities or autism to live as independently as possible in their own homes while keeping them close to their families and communities.
The council development features 10 one-bedroom houses, five two-bedroom houses, a single three-bedroom house, and a community hub.
All the houses will be designed and built to ensure accessibility and adaptability for wheelchair users.
A report going before cabinet on September 11 asks councillors to agree to implement the development.
If the decision is agreed, the council would issue an invitation to tender during September this year and award the contract in November, enabling construction works to start in July 2026.
Councillor Alison Born, Cabinet Member for Adult Services, said: “This is a landmark development for inclusive housing in Bath that will ensure vulnerable residents have the bespoke support and stability they need. It will reduce the need for people to move away from their families into expensive out-of-area placements or have to remain in inappropriate accommodation, instead keeping them close to their friends and loved ones.
“Not only will the scheme deliver on our priority to provide the right homes in the right places, it will also protect the ecology of the site with a 20% biodiversity net gain that exceeds mandatory requirements. This reflects our commitment to sustainable development across the whole of B&NES.”
The scheme is financed through rent-backed borrowing, service savings from in-house provision, a Homes England Grant, and S106 funds.
Find out more about how the B&NES Homes programme is developing supported and social housing.
ENDS