Schoukens attack also targets villas that look like Alpine cabins or Chinese temples on the grounds that they make streets look ugly. "A Spanish hacienda next to a modern Flemish house next to an Italian villa or a mountain chalet. This just can't go on any longer."

His proposal has gained support from Joris Scheers, a Flemish planner. "A municipality that wants to ban people from building Spanish villas on its territory can do so perfectly well in its local building regulations," he said. "Most municipalities ignore this, with the result that anything goes, and some streets become a real cacophony of styles."

But the proposal has met with resistance from the mayor of Sint-Pieters-Leeuw, Lieve Van Linthout. "People can argue about good taste for hours on end," she said. "But as long as it isn't a ruin, I believe that we should leave people to live happily in the house that they have built themselves."