Simon Thurley, the Governments chief conservation adviser and chief executive of English Heritage, has criticised John Prescotts plans to demolish up to 400,000 terrace homes to boost housing markets in the Midlands and the North.

Speaking to Planning Magazine, Mr Thurley said: "The problems facing areas with low demand for housing were more to do with a minority anti-social element than terrace architecture. We should move away from the idea that the problem is the housing rather than the people. To say that terrace housing causes problems is, to put a technical term on it, b******s,"

He added: "What are we doing crunching up perfectly serviceable houses that have stood for 150 years and are capable of being there for another 150 years? It is true that some 19th century houses are less well built than others, but look at the quality of the material used. They are infinitely superior to anything in replacement homes."