To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of mandating new public buildings and houses to be built in the (a) Neoclassical and Georgian-style, (b) Gothic revival and Victorian-style and (c) Art Deco style.

I am a strong supporter of the importance of beautiful design because we know that when homes and public buildings are beautiful they are more likely to attract community support. That is why our national planning policy stresses the importance of good design to create sustainable buildings and places. It encourages local areas to adopt their own design guides and codes, in line with the principles of the National Design Guide and National Model Design Code, including consideration of local context, identity, and the built form. Through updates to national planning policy we have placed greater emphasis on local authorities' pursuit of beautiful, and refusal of ugly development. Local areas are of course very welcome to prioritise design codes based around particular architectural styles.

Through this and forthcoming legislative reforms, I want to see local authorities, and the communities they serve, empowered to bring forward new development which respects and enhances the areas in which they live and work.

Our work in this area will be supported by the Office for Place, which will help in the preparation of design codes and research what is important to communities. We are also supporting 25 local authorities and communities to prepare design codes across England.