Housing minister Esther McVey has accused architects and planners of “scarring” towns with new homes that have no regard to what people actually want to live in.

In a foreword to a collection of essays on how to build beautiful homes published by right-wing think tank Policy Exchange, McVey said beauty had been neglected in policy-making, allowing “too many of our proud towns to be scarred by architects and planners who have no regard for what local residents want”.