Requirement for New Housing to be Beautiful

Blake Stephenson, the Conservative MP for Mid Bedfordshire, asked the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, Angela Rayner, about the proposed revised national planning policy framework and the removal of the requirement for new housing to be beautiful. Stephenson noted that his constituency has a mix of historic towns and villages, as well as newer developments, and that his constituents want to see beautiful homes that are sympathetic to the traditional character of their communities. He asked the Secretary of State if she would reinsert beauty as a house building objective in the revised framework. In response, Angela Rayner stated that the government is not proposing to remove all references to beauty from the NPPF. She explained that the changes they are making relate to additional references to beauty inserted by the previous government, which were subjective in nature, difficult to define, and may lead to inconsistencies in decision-making. Stephenson followed up, reiterating his view that people want to see beautiful homes throughout England and asking the Secretary of State to reinsert beauty as a house building objective. Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative MP for North West Essex and the shadow Secretary of State, then intervened, expressing gratitude for a letter the Secretary of State had sent her on Saturday. Badenoch noted that the letter highlighted the inconsistencies in Sadiq Khan's London housing targets and his under-delivery. She asked the Secretary of State if she would reduce the housing targets of other local leaders who miss their new housing targets, as she had done with Khan's. In response, Angela Rayner found Badenoch's comments astonishing, stating that the previous government had missed their housing targets every single year. Rayner explained that the government's methodology is about setting realistic expectations that people can meet, and that they will not shy away from the decisions needed to ensure that the homes people need are built.