Birmingham Local Conservatives today unveiled an ambitious new policy document – Beautiful Brum – setting out a clear Conservative vision for the city’s homes, communities, and green spaces ahead of the May 2026 local elections.
At the heart of the programme is a passionate commitment to beauty in design, ensuring that new development in Birmingham is not only functional but inspiring, durable, and worthy of the city’s proud heritage.
Cllr Robert Alden (Con, Erdington), Leader of Birmingham Local Conservatives, said:
For too long, Birmingham has allowed developments that pay little regard to local character, quality, or lasting beauty. We refuse to accept a city scarred by bland, short-lived buildings and inappropriate high-rise sprawl.
Conservatives have always championed beauty in the built environment. Under a Conservative-led Council, we will draw inspiration from Birmingham’s magnificent Georgian, Victorian, and Edwardian legacy to create neighbourhoods that stand the test of time and make residents proud.
We will require high-quality, durable materials and designs that truly complement local streets and surroundings. Community-led local design codes will set clear standards for brickwork, detailing, windows, and streetscapes. On arterial roads, we will promote elegant, traditional mansion-style apartment blocks that increase density without sacrificing beauty.
New high-rise buildings will be banned outside the ring road – and those permitted inside must meet the highest standards of architectural excellence. We will strengthen protections for our historic and heritage areas, including explicit safeguards for treasures like Station Street, while incentivising developers who go above and beyond to deliver exceptional beauty and outstanding public realm quality.
Our message is simple and uncompromising: Build beautifully and durably – respect local character and refuse inappropriate high-rise sprawl.
The Beautiful Brum policy programme also includes strong commitments to:
• Prioritising family-sized homes (3+ bedrooms) with gardens and access to amenities, while protecting existing family housing from harmful conversions into HMOs or intensive shared accommodation.
• Guaranteeing no further loss of Green Belt land, prohibiting development on parks, delivering net gains in green space, and increasing the city’s tree canopy to at least 30%.
• Ensuring infrastructure – schools, GPs, transport improvements, and green spaces – is in place from day one before major housing proceeds.
• Embedding safety through Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED), including natural surveillance, good lighting, off-street parking, and safe cycle routes.
Cllr Alden continued:
Birmingham deserves to be both prosperous and beautiful – a city built with pride, where families thrive, and neighbourhoods flourish. This is not about stopping development; it’s about insisting on development done right, meaning beautiful, sustainable, family-focused, green, and safe.
A Conservative administration will deliver a planning system that respects our heritage while confidently preparing for the future, creating places, not just houses, that residents will be proud to call home for generations to come.
Cllr Alden concluded:
Only a vote for Local Conservatives in May is a vote for a cleaner, more beautiful Birmingham, a vote for anyone else risks letting Labour back in.
