We’ll make it easier to build beautiful homes

Our reforms will show housebuilders that good quality does not need to be the enemy of supply

Readers of the Sunday Telegraph will rightly mourn the loss of Sir Roger Scruton. He was that rare thing; a man of action and a man of words. His support for freedom fighters in Eastern Europe demonstrated his willingness to risk his own safety for his ideals. Even in the final stages of his illness, Sir Roger was contributing new ideas to turn the tide on thoughtless development.

There were few subjects that he did not turn his mind to, and his work on the Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission, whose final report will be published on Thursday, will stand as part of his enormously rich legacy.

At the heart of the report is the contention that a sense of place still matters. In our fast-paced, globalised world, identity remains important, perhaps more so than ever, and most of us seek to live in a strong community, imbued with history, pride and beauty. And that theme runs through the heart of this new Conservative Government.

This was evident on election night, as the red wall of former Labour seats in the North crumbled. People in places that have been overlooked for too long made their voices heard. And as we prepare to redefine our identity as a nation post-Brexit, we must reflect on the root values that unite us all.

For many of us, our identities go hand in hand with the places and neighbourhoods in which we live and work. Now is the time to re-establish the essential bond between people and places. As Housing Secretary, I want to play my part by putting local people at the forefront of decision-making and giving them a greater say in the development of their neighbourhoods. That way, buildings can reflect the identity of their communities.

I want more places that instil a sense of pride, homes in which couples want to raise their children and grow old together, and places that fit with the culture and heritage of an area.

To achieve this, we need to reconcile two apparently conflicting forces; delivering well-designed, attractive homes and building at a scale and at a pace which we have not done in my adult lifetime, to make sure that such homes are affordable and that we Conservatives deliver the ownership society we believe in.

In recent decades there has been a misconception among housebuilders that quality needs to be the enemy of supply. I’m not convinced that needs to be the case. Evidence shows that those developments of the highest quality and the most attractive designs are approved more quickly, sell faster and are the most enduringly popular. As Sir Roger put it, nobody would object to building the city of Bath again.

Yet over the past few decades many developers, architects, and politicians have suffered from collective amnesia. Part of the problem has been the lack of an accepted national standard for new homes. That is why I launched a brand-new National Design Guide last October. With an acknowledgement that what good looks like differs across England, we will expect local authorities to design their own guides in line with national standards.

Our new National Model Design Code will set a baseline standard of quality and practice. They will not be “nimby charters”. If you meet these locally decided standards, the planning process must be swift and simple.

We have also made essential reforms through the National Planning Policy Framework to put people at the heart of the planning process. As a result, this country will have an ambitious and firmer vision for better designed homes under this Government.

The Building Better, Building Beautiful report on Thursday will expand on this vision. Beauty should become the natural result of working within our planning system, not the exception, and we need to relearn how our built and natural environments can belong together. Instead of an unpredictable, bureaucratic planning system, which shuts out smaller developers and self-builders, we should have a freer process where it is easier to progress planning applications for well-designed places. I will look carefully at the suggestion of a “fast track for beauty”.

The report concludes that central and local government should plant urban trees and re-green towns and cities – with a call for two million new street trees. I want to see treelined streets as the norm again. And zero-carbon homes being built as standard within five years.

Sir Roger was right to say that “what matters as much to us as the house in which we live is the one next door to it”. This Government will level up across this country and make sure that beautiful, well-designed homes and places are the expectation, not the exception.