Robyn Greenacre Disabled people in Norfolk have been promised a better quality of life in a brand new strategy.Breckland Council has launched the document which pledges to vastly improve the standard of living for those in the county with physical or sensory impairment.

Robyn Greenacre

Disabled people in Norfolk have been promised a better quality of life in a brand new strategy.

Breckland Council has launched the document which pledges to vastly improve the standard of living for those in the county with physical or sensory impairment.

More available housing and better care packages are just some of the priorities listed, encouraging different agencies to work together.

The strategy has been drawn up by organisations including the NHS, Norfolk County Council, and Breckland Council, to transform the level and quality of care currently on offer.

Breckland's executive support member for housing, Diana Irving, said: “We are really pleased to be here and proud to take the lead to develop the housing and support strategy.

“Hopefully through enhanced partnership working we can identify and ensure the most effective use of funds. Together we can achieve positive outcomes for the people who we are aiming to help.”

Lack of specialist housing is top of the agenda because disabled people are often unnecessarily put into care rather than given independent accommodation.

An average of 13 children a month are added to the disability register, which means in the next few years there will be a huge increase in the number of adults wanting to live independently.

The strategy will now work towards making social housing disabled friendly as well as applying for grants to fund more buildings.

Different organisations will work closely together as research showed they had little knowledge of each other's roles and responsibilities resulting in customers often receiving mixed or wrong advice.

Workers will have more training and several new roles will be introduced to ensure specialist housing advice can be offered.