We are not a ‘cartel’, angry housebuilders tell Gove

Housebuilders have hit back at Michael Gove after he claimed that leading developers operated as a “cartel”. Speaking to the Conservative Environment Network recently, Gove said he was “not particularly popular with developers” at the moment given that he is pushing them to spend billions fixing the nation’s dangerous cladding. “There are 101 changes we want to make,” he said. “We have essentially got a cartel of volume housebuilders who operate in a particular way, and there are all sorts of unhappy consequences.” Gove also called into question the sincerity of their ESG agendas. “All of their incentives are essentially to swallow up virgin greenfields, rather than to think hard about regeneration. All of their incentives are to leave it to someone else to worry about environmental externalities of any kind.” Stewart Baseley, chief executive of the Home Builders Federation, wrote to Gove today expressing his “considerable concern” about the use of the word “cartel”, which he said was “entirely unfounded” and implies that housebuilders are engaging in uncompetitive and illegal practices. Baseley added: “It is extremely worrying to hear a senior member of the government speaking so disparagingly about an industry responsible for maintaining around 800,000 jobs and generating around £40bn in economic activity annually.” Relations were already frosty after Gove and his department rejected a counter offer for the cladding costs from the HBF earlier this month. Unhappy with the government’s estimates, the federation has brought in accountants from PricewaterhouseCoopers to work out the possible final cladding bill. Reports suggest it will probably be less than £1bn – a quarter of the government’s projection. Gove has told housebuilders that he wants them to have agreed a funding deal by the end of this month and warned them that they might be refused planning permission if they do not toe the line. The Times (£) Photo by Tayfun Salci/ZUMA Wire/Shutterstock