Ok I confess I havent read everything I should have. I dont know if the Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission have cracked it. All I do know is that this street I happened to walk down this year was so simple and so perfect that it stopped me in my tracks. Basic but beautifully proportioned and detailed houses, quite dense, a few trees, space for cute front gardens with hedges or walls, space to park your Citroen DS, etc.

I know all the boring excuses why we dont/can’t build this any more (no skilled trades, car ownership, ‘buyers want what we build’, ‘ooo you cant put trees there’, etc) but these are all overcome-able – if we collectively decided that this is what we all want.

I hope Design Codes, another NPPF and lots of harumphing from ministers mean the tide is turning. I often use sarcasm but in this (one) case I won’t.