Building boss slams cladding levy and accuses government of punishing firms ‘not responsible’

Britain’s biggest housebuilder has slammed Michael Gove’s plans to make developers pay to fix unsafe homes as ‘unjust and disproportionate’.

Barratt Developments boss David Thomas yesterday wrote to the Housing Secretary expressing his ‘deep disappointment’ that a £3billion levy – originally aimed at firms building high-rise blocks – would now be industry wide. 

It comes on top of a £3billion developer tax, which already targets the sector.

Mr Thomas also said that the expansion of the levy punishes those ‘who were not responsible’ for the cladding scandal.

Mr Gove tore up government policy in January when he scrapped a previous loan scheme for leaseholders and said developers should bear the full cost of fixing cladding and other defects in the wake of the 2017 Grenfell fire.

He also threatened to shut out building firms that refused to contribute to a new building safety fund. 

More than 35 housebuilders have so far agreed to provide at least £2billion to repair buildings taller than 11 metres.

A government spokesman said that building safety ‘is an industry-wide failure’ and added: ‘We make no apologies for making developers pay’.

But Mr Thomas argued that overseas firms, as well as manufacturers, suppliers, contractors and others who had a role in the building safety crisis, ‘including government itself’, are ‘not paying anything towards the costs of the problems they had a hand in creating’.

He called for the levy to be delayed until others had been made to pay their fair share, adding: ‘The unavoidable conclusion is that government is unfairly targeting established UK companies simply because it is easy to do so while finding it difficult to bring other organisations and overseas companies to account.’

Mr Gove tore up government policy in January when he scrapped a previous loan scheme for leaseholders and said developers should bear the full cost of fixing cladding and other defects in the wake of the 2017 Grenfell fire

Barratt, which has made about £3billion in profit since Grenfell, said it had set aside £480million to fix unsafe homes it has built.

The firm believes it will pay another £400million through the developer tax to fix unsafe homes built by others.

Giles Grover, of the End Our Cladding Scandal campaign group, said: ‘It is difficult, if not impossible, to feel any sympathy for developers like Barratt – firms that have profited to the tune of billions since the Grenfell tragedy.

‘However, we do not disagree with the notion that the Government has not spread the net widely enough to ensure all those who played a part in causing this crisis are made to contribute to costs of remediation.’