Local people should learn to love new homes and not fight them, says James Brokenshire

Local people should learn to love new homes and not oppose them, says Housing secretary.

Communities should not see new homes as a “burden” but as a “rejuvenation”, James Brokenshire says today.

Mr Brokenshire will say he backs a Policy Exchange report out today which says that every council should produce a design and style guide in consultation with local residents so that new homes are sympathetically designed.

Polling published today by Policy Exchange found that 77 per cent of respondents agree that cost is too often an excuse for badly designed, soulless new developments.

Half of people surveyed felt that new modern homes are built as cheaply as possible to maximise profit for the developer.

The report concludes that Nimbyism – a ‘Not In My Back Yard’ view of new developments – "can be overcome if plans better reflect people’s desire for traditional building design, like Victorian terraces and Georgian blocks”.

It recommends that accelerated planning permission should be granted for developments which reflect agreed design and style codes.

In a foreword to the report, Mr Brokenshire says: “New homes shouldn’t be seen as a burden on communities but a rejuvenation. 

“This Government has made housing and creating a place you can call home a central tenet of its domestic agenda and is acting accordingly.

“We want to see local communities intimately engaged in helping to shape the future of the development in their area, feeding in their views on the design and style of new developments and helping local authorities create style guides and codes which developers can use to meet the needs of communities.”