LOCAL authorities in Suffolk have come under fire from a national housebuilder for having no strategy for homes for the elderly.McCarthy & Stone, which builds sheltered private accommodation for active elderly people, says only one in ten councils has a full strategy for housing for the elderly.

LOCAL authorities in Suffolk have come under fire from a national housebuilder for having no strategy for homes for the elderly.

McCarthy & Stone, which builds sheltered private accommodation for active elderly people, says only one in ten councils has a full strategy for housing for the elderly.

Neither Ipswich council nor Babergh has a strategy – and the company believes they could be storing up trouble for themselves in the future.

"Government planning guidelines, as well as a number of housing agencies, have long been urging local authorities to make proper provision for the elderly, clearly without much effect," said company spokesman Keith Lovelock in an open letter to local authorities and newspapers.

"Local authorities can only plan ahead if they have first assessed the need and adopted policies geared towards delivery of a range of housing solutions."

A company

"We completed this survey of local authorities and were surprised that so few had a strategy to deal with the need for housing for the elderly."

McCarthy & Stone has built sheltered homes for elderly people across the country, including Westwood Court on Norwich Road in Ipswich.

Sue Wythe, from Ipswich Borough Homes, said the council did not have a specific strategy for dealing with the accommodation needs of older people, but they were considered as part of the borough's overall housing strategy.

That was soon likely to change on a county-wide basis, however.

"The government has come up with new guidelines saying there should be a specific strategy for providing accommodation for elderly people.

"We are working with other districts and boroughs in the county to come up with a Suffolk-wide strategy over the next few years," she said.