The man in charge of Britain's housing has argued that a shake-up to the planning system will actually help MORE people have a say on where houses should be built and what they should look like.

Robert Jenrick, Secretary of State for housing, communities and local government, made the claims as he visited Cornwall on Thursday, to visit Newquay and Truro on a whistle-stop tour.

In Newquay he saw the Duchy of Cornwall’s Nansledan development which is providing a major extension to the town with thousands of new homes.

And in Truro he met with the Truro Towns Board which is looking at what can be done to help regenerate the city centre in the future.

His words came as experienced Cornwall councillors Malcolm Brown and Jackie Bull launch a campaign against government plans to introduce large changes to the planning system, which they say could see councils lose control of planning decisions.

The government plans would mean that areas would be earmarked for development and then there would be no need for planning permission to be granted by local councils.

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Mebyon Kernow has described the plans as a “disaster for Cornwall” while some Lib Dem councillors have urged councils to oppose the proposals.

However, Mr Jenrick said that he hoped that people would “embrace” the plans which he claimed would allow people to have more say over what is built in their communities.

“I hope people will embrace the reforms when they read them and understand what we are trying to do. There will be much greater say for local people at the plan making stage which should be the really important, meaningful moment.

"We want to inspire local people to get involved in that to decide exactly where they want homes to be built and also where they don’t want them to be built, because there will be areas that we will want to be protected and that means there won’t be developments and it would be very unlikely that we would get speculative developments which we do today, which annoy people particularly when they have gone to the trouble of creating neighbourhood plans for example.

“But also they will have a lot more say on what the buildings look like so you will be able to create a neighbourhood plan with a design code and conditions attached to it. It could be like Nansledan or it could be something very different, whatever the local community chooses and that will prevent somebody coming along and building something entirely out of character with the local community.”

He used his visit to Cornwall that day as an example, adding: “I have been to see some fantastic housing developments in Newquay which have informed some of our ideas for planning reforms where you use a design code to fit in with the look and feel of an area rather than having identikit housing imposed on a local community."

The secretary of state also said that he hoped a simpler planning system would also enable more small scale building companies to build developments and end the reliance on “a small number of volume housebuilders that many people feel are not providing good quality housing that meets the needs of the local community”.

Mr Jenrick added that the use of masterplans and early planning would help local people to shape how developments will look and where they take place.

He said it would be up to people in Truro or any other Cornish community to consider what matters to them, with some opting for more traditional designs while others might want to do something more contemporary.

“By doing that not only do we create places that people want to live in but we can make the place more beautiful and environmentally friendly, and we also build more support for housebuilding and helping the next generation onto the housing ladder," he said.

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One major concern has been the impact on the provision of affordable housing with proposals suggesting that developments of less than 50 homes not having to provide any.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service asked Mr Jenrick about concerns in Cornwall around what is classed as “affordable” with many people finding that homes marketed as such are still out of reach and the need for more social rented properties.

The minister was asked whether there was anything that the government could do to try and help address the issue. Mr Jenrick did not answer the question directly but said that the government was trying to provide more affordable homes.

He said: “The thrust of our policy is to build more homes and by doing that we will make more homes available of all types and tenures in all parts of the country but we are also doing specific initiatives to address the challenge.

“We have enabled local councils to borrow to build council housing and I have heard that Cornwall is doing that. Cornwall Council is building 250 homes a year, which is a good beginning and they are taking the issue seriously.

“We are also investing nationally £12 billion in an affordable homes programme – shared ownership, affordable rent and social rent – that will help people to step onto the housing ladder.

"With the newer developments we will be bringing forward our first homes idea which will enable local first time buyers to get a 30 per cent discount on their home and that was very much inspired by Cornish MPs and their concerns and those of local people that housebuilding was going on but all too often they were out of reach of local first time buyers."