HERTFORDSHIRE County Council has pledged to provide accommodation for up to 40 people with learning disabilities every year in a bid to meet the growing demand on its services.

There are currently 6,773 people in Hertfordshire registered as having a learning disability a ratio of one in every 250 and St Albans will help to cater for the increasing demand with the opening of a new hostel in Beaconsfield Road early next year.

"I am really delighted that Hertfordshire is responding to growing demand and showing the way in providing more suitable accommodation with care support for this important group of people," said county councillor Jane Pitman, executive member for adult care services.

"This means we can provide the right amount of accommodation of the right type in the right places.

"Many people with learning disabilities want to be able to live as independently as possible with just a small amount of support.

"They want to be involved in their local communities, living near friends and family and able to do all the everyday things that we all enjoy."

Although some people with learning disabilities can manage in their own homes with just a low level of support care, others need intensive support in specialist or adapted housing.

In the most extreme circumstances, individuals may need the help of care workers day and night and about half of the extra accommodation being provided each year will be for this type of intensive care.

In the past, people with learning disabilities were often cared for in an institutional environment such as hospital, but the council now aims to make its newest hostels as similar as possible to ordinary housing.

Its continuing strategy is to provide new accommodation options including small group homes, one bedroom flats and even the option of shared ownership to allow residents as much independence as possible.

The county council began reviewing its learning disability provision and the predicted increase in demand in 1999.

December 19, 2001 12:30