Gove claims better design could reduce public opposition to housing developments

Michael Gove has claimed that opposition to new housing developments could be reduced if there was a greater focus on design and the “heart and soul” of places. He criticised “indifferent or insipid” planning and suggested that the potential of some public spaces was being squandered as a result of poor design and maintenance. Mr Gove said: “Much of the opposition to new housing developments is often grounded in a fear that the quality of the new buildings and places created will be deficient and therefore detrimental to existing neighbourhoods and properties." He added: “If a general improvement in the standard of design reassures the general public that this will in fact not be the case, then they may be less likely to oppose it.” Mr Gove was speaking in the foreword to a report by the Policy Exchange think tank arguing for the creation of a new national school of urban design and architecture. The intake for the new school would include architects, planners, designers, engineers and consultants in an attempt to break down divisions between these fields. The report says that although the school would “seek to wholeheartedly revive traditional architecture from the annals of obscurity to which contemporary architectural education has unfairly consigned it”, but it would also offer a “broad range of other stylistic approaches”. 

City AM (28/12/2022)   The Daily Telegraph (28/12/2022)   The Independent (28/12/2022)