Guizhou: Pulling Efforts to Build a ‘15-Minutes Service Circle’ with a Radius of less than 700 Meters

On April 18th, the journalist has learnt from the Department of Civil Affairs of Guizhou Province that the Notice on Strengthening the Plan and Construction of Service Facilities for Community Elderly Care (hereinafter referred to as the Notice) has been jointly issued by the Department of Civil Affairs of Guizhou Province, the Department of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of Guizhou Province, the Department of Natural Resources of the Guizhou Province and the Guizhou Provincial Development and Reform Commission, with a view to stepping up the planning and construction of elderly service facilities to accelerate the development of the elderly course.

Excerpts of the Notice: 

--Scientific planning on the facilities for community elderly care services. We will coordinate the planning of elderly care facilities, balance the needs of various relevant professional fields, enact rational principles and requirements for the structure of elderly care service facilities and implement the substance of related special programs including the planning of elderly service facilities. Centring on the construction of an urban-rural elderly care facility net consists of 'Comprehensive Nursing-Oriented Elderly Care Institutions at the County and District Level -- Nursing-Oriented Elderly Care Institutions Inserted in the Streets -- Elderly Care Station in Community' and 'Central Nursing Home at the County-Level -- Regional Nursing Home at the Town and Township Level -- Rural Nursing Home', we will formulate and issue a special plan on the facilities for elderly services at the county level before the end of 2022, manage the provision of elderly care service facilities in basic public services and ensure them to meet the people's basic needs, and clarify the allocation standards through obligatory targets. We will integrate the provincial targets with the national targets, clarify the set places and construction standards of elderly service facilities at all levels, and make a rational design of the contents, standards and schedule for constructing all-level elderly service facilities. The approved special plan for the structure of elderly service facilities will be included into the Basic Information Platform of Territorial Space at the same level, and will be implemented together with the 'One Map' of the National Territorial Space Plan. The related targets and contents of the elderly service facilities in the middle- and old-aged city zones and the built residential zones will all be integrated into and implemented with the City Renewal Plan. 

--Clarifying the requirements for building the '15-minutes Service Circle'. Based on the measured distance the elderly cover with a 15-minute walk, we clarify that the radius of facility services for community elderly care services should be less than 700 meters. The housing for the facilities of community elderly care services should be located in the convenient areas for elderly activities, which are suited to be built together with or close to the basic public service facilities for community health service, cultural service, educational service, physical fitness and disability rehabilitation, etc. We clarify the size of facilities for community elderly care services. Relevant community elderly service facilities should be equipped in the newly building city zones and the newly building residential zones covering no less than 20 square meters of gross floor area per 100 households, and in the old city zones and built residential zones covering no less than 15 square-meters of gross floor area per 100 households. The newly building street-level comprehensive elderly service centres should cover a gross floor area of no less than 1000 square meters, and the community elderly service stations no less than 350 square meters. We encourage moderately centralizing the construction targets, and upgrading the community elderly service station into street-inserted elderly care institutions with a nursing orientation, which can provide comprehensive functions including daycare, catering service and eating assistance, full-time care for short terms, mental care, cultural and entertainment service, and onsite services, etc. The facilities should be functioned based on the elderly service needs and the use condition of service housing, while avoiding being too small, too dispersed, too far away to meet use and management needs. 

-- Based on the urban renovation of old residential zones, old plant zones, villages in the city, and urban underground pipeline networks, taking a package of measures to remedy the deficiencies of elderly service facilities in old city zones and built residential zones. We will launch an initiative to comprehensively address the elderly service facilities in the urban districts, thoroughly check the equipment in the old urban zones and built residential zones, in a bid to take charge of the accurate information on housing without elderly service facilities or with unqualified facilities. To thoroughly implement the principles of relevant conferences, we will promote coordinated progress in related construction of elderly service facilities, and improve the community elderly care facilities in residential zones built before 2014 in accordance with local conditions, or make a supplement in adjacent new projects, so as to secure the accomplishment of rectification before 2025. Public housing and facilities sitting idle will be put into good use. Relevant public housing, office occupancy sitting idle that belong to government and public institutions and enterprises, as well as the idle plants, schools, hospitals and hotels in the relevant districts, all will be renovated into community home-based elderly service housing in a collective manner. Multiple public housing and facilities sitting idle or inefficiently used in the neighbourhoods will be cleaned and integrated, and under the agreement of the owner, will be transferred to the property management and be renovated and used for community home-based elderly services. We encourage the consultation between property service enterprises and real estate developers to renovate houses owned by developers into elderly service housing.  

--Establishing and improving the work mechanism of 'Four Synchronizations', and building sound supporting facilities for elderly service in newly building residential zones. We will establish and improve the review mechanism for the construction of supporting facilities for elderly services in newly building residential zones. Before deliberating on the Design Plan for Construction Projects in Urban Residential Zones, the department of natural resources should first consult the opinions of the department of civil affairs and the health department at the corresponding level. No project planning permits should be issued for those who do not match the planning conditions and design standards for elderly service facilities. The department of civil affairs should base on local conditions of the elderly population and elderly service needs to forward specific guiding opinions on the facility spots, housing areas for various functions, building altitude, building sunshine and traffic organization, etc. For newly building neighbourhoods under staged development, the supporting housing for community elderly service facilities should be arranged in the initial phase without splitting. For projects impossible to be arranged in the initial phase, the supporting housing for community home-based elderly service facilities must be accomplished synchronously before 50% of the total residential size is completed. We will establish and improve an evaluation mechanism of elderly service facilities in newly building residential zones. The department of natural resources shall verify in accordance with the law whether the construction of supporting facilities for elderly service matches with the planning conditions. For those unverified or not matching with the planning conditions after verification, the construction institutions shall not organize final acceptance. We will establish and improve a transfer mechanism of elderly service facilities in newly building residential zones. The construction institutions shall transfer without charge the supporting elderly service facilities and related construction materials stipulated in the leasing conditions to local governments at the county level. After the registration formalities of real estate, relevant departments of the county government shall entrust them to the department of civil affairs to provide non-profit elderly services.

(Source: Guizhou Daily)