Street votes have been suggested by an enormous range of community and renters’ groups, environmental organisations, planners, architects, and politicians from all major parties. You can see more names here. 

Street votes could allow streets to agree to allow particular types of home extension of certain designs. Where there is widespreads support, more ambitious streets could allow homeowners to do more with their plot, for example by adding an additional home for family members. Any construction allowed by a street vote will have to meet rigorous climate, biodiversity and drainage standards to ensure homes are fit for the 21st century.

Working with a local architect or builder, a group of residents on a street can make a proposal. That group must represent most of the homes on the street to ensure that only schemes with widespread support go to a vote.

If the proposal is valid under the rules, it is put to a vote of the residents on the street. If at least 60% of them agree (plus other conditions), the proposal is passed, and each homeowner gains planning permission for that proposal, within the strict design rules set by the street.

Every resident, and only residents, are eligible to vote, meaning that it is tenants, not landlords, who have the final say whether a street vote passes. 

Street votes present a great opportunity to help to fund a new generation of council homes. The land value uplift from street votes will be shared with the local authority who can use it to fund more social homes. 

Street votes have also been supported by senior figures at housing associations, as a means for their tenants to decide on improvements to where they live and support new social homes.

Street votes have been designed so that local residents hold the power, not big developers and not landlords. Street votes will create more work for small and medium sized builders whilst putting ordinary people in the driving seat. This is the opposite of the regular planning system that releases only big sites suitable only for massive identikit housebuilders.

Street votes do not mean that the neighbours get to vote on your application for an extension.

Street votes do not affect the normal process of applying for planning permission. They are just a supplementary way for some streets to decide to allow more, if there is overwhelming support among residents.

Street votes will help protect green land by allowing more homes within existing towns and cities where they have local support. This will deliver more homes on brownfield sites, reducing pressure on green space.

Street votes will only give additional permissions for development where it is strongly supported by local people because it will benefit their community. In addition there are significant protections that ensure that street votes can only permit development that enhances the local area without harming neighbours.

Rather than big developments creating pressure all at once, street votes will encourage organic and gentle development that happens over time, with a generous share of the land value uplift going to local authorities to ensure provision of local services is not just protected, but enhanced.

Please sign up for updates below and email your MP asking them to support street votes. You can find the email address for your MP here: https://members.parliament.uk/members/commons

You can find out more by signing up below for our free updates. You can also read a detailed suggestion for street votes, which may be different to the one the government adopts, in the Strong Suburbs report. You can also find out more at streetvotes.org.