Discusses public attitudes towards new housing development in their areas and reviews a new study "Housing futures: informed public opinion", which concludes that a clearer understanding of local people's preferences can help plan more publicly acceptable developments. The report surveyed residents in southeast England on six different ways that development might occur in the next 20 years. Increased housing densities, urban extension and new towns were the most popular options, with village growth and new small settlements of 2 000-4 000 homes the least popular forms of development. Residents also gave their views on the acceptability of types and densities of housing, with detached and semi-detached properties were most acceptable and blocks of flats more disliked than liked. Concludes that Nimbyism is far from rife and that there is no blanket objection to new housing. The study is available at www.jrf.org.uk.