Housing Minister Grant Shapps has called on architects and housebuilders to "think outside the identikit Legoland box" and make sure their new developments reflect the identity of the local area.

The minister has written to the Design Council - which recently merged activities on housing design with the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment - encouraging them to help developers to work with local communities to bring forward creative and innovative designs that respond to local character and identity.

He has asked the Design Council to work with communities to help them consider how they could use new neighbourhood plans to best support those developers whose designs and use of materials are more sensitive to the aesthetic of the local area without adding to the regulatory burden on the industry.

The Localism Bill currently before Parliament includes radical reforms to England's planning laws, enabling communities to come together to draw up neighbourhood plans to decide what their area should look like. If people vote in favour of these plans in local referendums, councils would have to adopt them.

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In his letter to the Design Council, Mr Shapps argues that England's suburbs have been dominated by "identikit" homes that could be anywhere in the country and that instead, developers could look to take the character of the local neighbourhood more into account in their designs.

He points to examples of housing developments up and down the country that have used local materials and taken local views into account - giving the area a unique identity while at the same time providing the homes local people need. And by giving these new properties a local flavour, the developers have helped support jobs in the area - and in some cases created new tourist attractions.

Mr Shapps said: "We all recognise the bog standard, identikit Legoland homes that typify some new developments - all looking exactly the same on streets that could be anywhere in the country. Whilst we are seeing good examples emerging, too often new developments are dominated by the same, identikit designs that bear no resemblance to the character of the local area.

"I want more developers to think outside these Legoland designs and consider how the expertise, knowledge and materials that are locally available could be best used to reflect the identity of their surrounding neighbourhood.

"But power also rests in the hands of the residents. Neighbourhood plans, designed and voted on by communities themselves, could offer vital support to those architects and developers who are more sensitive to the look and feel of the place in which they are building."

(CD/KMcA)