A disabled tenant is taking Renfrewshire Council to court, arguing that the authority’s decision to allocate new homes in Johnstone has unfairly disadvantaged people with mobility needs.
The legal challenge centres on a new housing development on Howwood Road, where the council is building a range of properties, including accessible bungalows and wheelchair-accessible homes.
The petitioner has been assessed as having Priority A+ (Critical Need Plus) status because of her disability and mobility-related housing needs.
She argues that, despite this assessment, she was prevented from benefiting from the new accessible properties because the council chose to set aside its usual housing allocation policy for the development.
Instead, the challenge says, homes were allocated to tenants displaced by the regeneration programme, without taking their accessibility needs into account.
The petitioner says she had been told by the council for years that there were no bungalows available for letting. She later discovered that new accessible, level-access homes were being built as part of the Howwood Road regeneration scheme.
The council’s own description of the development says it will include two-, three-, four- and five-bedroom houses, one- and two-bedroom cottage flats and a small number of one-, two- and three-bedroom bungalows. The bungalows are planned to have their own designated garden areas, while many of the homes are expected to be wheelchair accessible.
The judicial review argues that the council’s decision amounts to indirect discrimination against disabled people, contrary to the Equality Act 2010.
The petitioner also argues that the decision breaches human rights protections under Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which prohibits discrimination, when read alongside Article 8, concerning respect for private and family life and the home.
A further part of the case is whether the council should have made reasonable adjustments to its housing allocation decision. The petitioner argues that accessible new-build properties should have been allocated to applicants who needed them most under the council’s own allocation policy.
The case is now before Scotland’s Supreme Court at the permission stage.
A Lord Ordinary will decide whether the petitioner has permission to proceed with a substantive judicial review. That means the court is not yet deciding whether the council acted unlawfully; it must first determine whether the legal challenge should go forward to a full hearing.
The case could become significant for disabled people seeking accessible social housing, particularly where councils are balancing the needs of tenants displaced by regeneration with those of applicants who require specially adapted or accessible homes.
Photo: Erik Mclean
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