Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department provides guidance to local authorities on conformity of new building developments with the traditional architectural aesthetics of the locality of those developments.

The Government is committed to ensuring the planning system creates more beautiful and sustainable buildings and places. The National Design Guide sets out the ten characteristics of well-designed places and demonstrates what good design means in practice. Local councils can use this guidance to inform local policy and guidance to define what good design means in their local area.

The Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023 introduces a requirement for local planning authorities to produce a design code for the whole of their area. Design codes will be prepared locally, reflect the local context and be based on effective community involvement, so that local people have a real say in the design of new homes and neighbourhoods. The National Model Design Code sets out a process for developing local design codes that reflect local context and community preferences including the identity of places and buildings.