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Gove’s broadside at builders over their ‘ugly’ developments

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Ugly: Brick by Brick’s housing schemes for the council were rarely admired by neighbours or the public for their aesthetic style

Michael Gove, in his second spell as the Tories’ Levelling Up Secretary, has declared war against “ugly” buildings, in an effort to reduce opposition to residential developments.

New measures: Michael Gove

That could be bad news for the profit-hungry developers who seek to replace suburban semis and bungalows around Croydon with block-after-block of flats which rarely fit in with or enhance the existing neighbourhood.

And Gove is holding up as the exemplar of “good” architecture Poundbury, the Dorset estate of pastiche buildings renowned for being supported by King Charles, and generally loathed by modern architects.

In his first big speech since being re-appointed as levelling-up secretary, Gove launched a broadside against builders for putting up identikit homes that are too often out of keeping with the local area.

He also accused the industry of “manipulating” councils by using loopholes in the planning system to avoid paying for community infrastructure and overturning democratic decisions about where houses should be built.

Hitting out at new-builds that were not “high quality”, Gove told an audience at the Centre for Policy Studies last night that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government would stop “ugly” housing developments from getting built. If that had been in place six years ago, it might have caused considerable difficulties to the council’s wholly-owned housing developer Brick by Brick, and its in-house architecture firm.

Gove said that to achieve this it would be necessary to take on board local communities’ objections to building in their area.

“The experience of many buyers is that the incredibly expensive homes that they buy simply aren’t up to the standard that they should be,” he said.

“We will use all the powers we have, including call-in powers, in order to make sure that developments which are not aesthetically of high quality don’t go ahead.”

Gove said that much of the opposition to new builds was the fault of “ugly” housing developments, and that councils and communities would have a greater say in the process under planning reforms going through parliament.

“For those who are seeing the new houses built, the fact that so many of our volume housebuilders use a restricted pattern book with poor quality materials, and the aesthetic quality of what they produce, is both disappointing and also not in keeping with high aesthetic standards that may already exist.

“That is a reason why communities say no. They do not want ugliness to be imposed on them.”

Planning reforms included in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill were not dead, the minister told his audience, and local authorities would be given increased powers as well as funding for urban regeneration.

A pastiche Bath: Poundbury, in Dorset, is loved by Gove and King Charles, loathed by many modern architects

Gove also said that developers would get approval more easily if they followed new design codes.

“We will see the wide adoption of design codes and ways in which individuals can appreciate how it is easier to secure planning permission if you build in a way that is consistent with those design codes.”

An obvious contradiction in Gove’s announcement is the intensification likely to be required as a consequence of his recent confirmation that the government would impose housing targets. This is likely to increase pressures to build on Green Belt and Metropolitan Open Land. Since returning to DLUHC, Gove has recommitted the government to building 300,000 homes a year, as outlined in its 2019 manifesto.

Poundbury, which has been described as a “pastiche of Bath in the 18th Century”, has been ridiculed for its architectural style. Gove said such criticism was “rubbish”.

Gove cited the example of the King’s model village in Poundbury, Dorset, that adopted traditional housing design and integrated shops and businesses as well as private and social housing within the development zone.

Gove pointed out that house prices in Poundbury were higher than in neighbouring Dorchester, suggesting that it could be a blueprint for other developments.

“If we do make sure that in the planning reforms we are bringing forward, people understand that new homes will be beautiful, they will be accompanied by infrastructure, there will be democratic decision-making, there will be environmental enhancement and that we are creating new neighbourhoods, then we can build new homes and additional infrastructure that this country needs to power the growth to which all of us are committed,” he said.


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