A steep fall in opposition to new housing close to people's homes shows that nimbyism is on the wane, a Norfolk MP and planning minister has implied.

The newly-published findings from the 2013 British Social Attitudes Survey said the number of people against new homes being built in their local area fell from 46pc of respondents in 2010, to 31pc in 2013.

The report found the strongest opposition to new housing came from people living in 'a small city or town' - 34pc - and those living in 'a country village' - 32pc. However, it also said opposition had fallen most sharply among these groups.

Great Yarmouth MP Brandon Lewis, who was promoted to Minister of State for Housing and Planning in this month's government reshuffle, claimed the increasing acceptance of new developments in local areas were due to the government's planning reforms, which introduced a presumption in favour of 'sustainable development'.

Writing in the Daily Telegraph, he said: 'This changing mind-set can now be seen in the pipeline of projects coming through the reformed planning system. Last year successful applications for major housing schemes were up 23 per cent, and planning permissions were granted for 216,000 new homes.

'The new planning system puts local people in control, so if they want to build more homes, they will.'

The term 'nimby', a pejorative reference people who support developments in theory but 'not in my back yard', was popularised by former Conservative environment secretary Nicholas Ridley in the 1980s.

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