Designers may choose to meet the requirements of Part M in an alternative way to those set out in the Approved Document M. In order to assess whether proposals make reasonable provision it is recommended that an access statement accompany the application. Ideally the access statement will link to one that has been provided at planning application stage, if applicable (see section 7.8). It is also anticipated that this statement will continue through to occupation of the building by the end-user.
The access statement should record how the designer has met the requirements of Part M and where they have departed from the Approved document the reasons for doing this, for example to provide a better solution, or because of constraints.
There is also a requirement on planning authorities in England and Wales to produce access statements (Wales) and Design and Access Statements (England) as part of the development control process. In practice, there is often no linking of the development control and building control access statements, though this would be desirable as many issues overlap. Access statements should be seen as an evolving document that grows with a project. See Section 7 for further details.
Further guidance on access statements is provided in: Disability Rights Commission Access Statements: Achieving an inclusive environment by ensuring continuity throughout the planning, design and management of buildings and spaces (2004)’
