Give local people a say, says Matt Vickers MP

Each week the New Social Covenant Unit recognises Members of Parliament for their covenantal credentials as spotted on the green benches.

Despite the House of Commons being in recess for much of this week, MPs still grabbed opportunities to tell Ministers what really matters.

The Secretary of State himself gave witness to the Levelling Up Select Committee this week in another display of unwavering commitment to the new social covenant. Responding to a question from the MP for Stockton South, Matt Vickers, about the role of ‘street votes’ in any future Planning Bill, Mr Gove replied:

‘I love the idea’.

First recommended by the late Sir Roger Scruton in his pioneering report ‘Living with Beauty’, ‘street votes’ is a hyper local extension of the neighbourhood plan, allowing residents of a single street to agree and set a design code, taking back control of development.

The Unit supports ‘street votes’ for they embed principles of community power in housing and planning. We can achieve both conservation and innovation by following our proud history of trusting the people, their affections and intuitions, to know what’s best. This stands against a contractual approach whereby officials bargain with local people to get away with more ‘identikit’ or ‘anywhere-ville’ units for less, failing to honour the preferences of local people to live in homes that facilitate their commitments to family and community.