In Defence of Beauty

by The Rt Hon Robert Jenrick MP

Last week the Labour government deleted multiple references to beauty in the National Planning Policy Framework, the document which sets out the government’s planning policies for England. Defending the decision, Angela Rayner declared that “beauty means nothing really, it means one thing to one person and another thing to another.”

This is a troubling development. As Housing Secretary, I had the immense privilege of working with the late Sir Roger Scruton, whom I was proud to call a friend, when he was the co-chair of the Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission.

Though he was wrongfully dismissed from his role by a predecessor based on a politically motivated smear, he was gracious enough to accept re-appointment to the Commission, and to advise on its work until his death. He died before the Commission finished its work, but his influence can be felt on every page of its report, whose recommendations I worked to implement when I was in government.

As Sir Roger explained, beauty exists as an objective fact, which can offer “consolation in sorrow and affirmation in joy”. Yet the existing planning system seems designed to discourage beautiful buildings. Too often, our immensely complex planning bureaucracy shuts out small builders and leaves the market to a few large developers with little incentive to build beautifully.

The result—large developments of boxy, featureless newbuilds—not only uglifies our public realm, but they also encourage opposition to housebuilding. Most people aren’t opposed to building the housing this country needs, housing which is essential for the country’s prosperity and the well-being of younger generations. But most people also don’t want the beauty of their country—and make no mistake, this is a beautiful country—being spoiled by ugly developments which give consideration to neither aesthetics nor context.

In a hyper-globalised era, people have retained their yearning for a sense of place. People want to feel connected to the places where they live; they want to be proud of their communities. Building beautiful housing helps people feel both, and this in turn encourages people to become invested in the improvement of their communities.

There are some who appreciate the importance of building beautiful and of place, and yet are fearful that an emphasis on beauty in planning guidelines will offer another way for NIMBYs to block new housing. I understand their concerns, but evidence shows that more beautiful designs tend to be approved more quickly and sell faster. There is no either/or choice between building the housing we need and building housing we are proud of.

There are also ways to make it easier to build beautiful housing: as housing secretary, I launched a National Design Guide and National Model Design Code, documents which make it easier, within the planning system, for builders to produce designs of the highest quality and to have them approved. I mandated every new street must be lined with trees and I established the Office for Place with Nicholas Boys Smith to help local communities and industry create more of these attractive and popular designs. 

Yet this false dichotomy between numbers and beauty was invoked by the government to justify its decision to scrap beauty from the NPPF. At the same time, it has shredded the existing housing targets for London, the place where the housing shortage is the most acute and where new houses are the most desperately needed. Certain rural parts of the country, where housing needs tend to be less great, have seen their targets shoot up. This arrangement, imposed high-handedly from the centre, might work for London’s Labour mayor, but it is bad for the country as a whole.

I will always fight to keep the idea of building beautifully alive. And I will strive to make Sir Roger’s vision of a country where people feel proud of the places where they live, be they ancient villages or new housing developments, a reality.

Robert Jenrick is the Member of Parliament for Newark and Bingham. He served as Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government from 2019 to 2021.