More People Want More Homes after Planning Reforms

British households are increasingly happy to accept mass housing schemes, a Government minister claims. Brandon Lewis said reforms to the planning system have 'changed the mindset' and helped increase support for the construction of new homes. Mr Lewis hinted that the 'Not in My Backyard' attitude has changed, with support for housebuilding increasing 'dramatically'. Referring to a survey of British Social Attitudes the minister said support for new homes has risen from 28 per cent in 2010 to 47 per cent by last year. The percentage of those opposing new homes has decreased by 15 per cent over the same period, the survey showed. Mr Lewis credited the reforms with giving local people control over their local areas. Download the survey from the GovUK website.

Public Attitudes to Housing in England

In 2009 the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) commissioned a module of questions about housing to be asked on the 2010 British Social Attitudes survey. Some housing questions had been asked before 2010. The British Social Attitudes survey was funded fairly regularly by the Department of the Environment (as was) during the 1980s and 1990s, and in 2004, the Housing Corporation funded a module of questions primarily about social housing. The 2010 module aimed to repeat key time-series questions while also leaving scope to introduce new issues of policy relevance and interest to the Department. Download a copy of the report from the CLG website.