Gove admits faulty advice partly to blame for Grenfell fire | Grenfell Tower fire

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Michael Gove has admitted that misguided and ambiguous government guidance was partly responsible for the Grenfell Tower tragedy.

Britain’s housing secretary said lax regulations allowed siding companies to put people at risk in order to make a profit.

Goves’ remarks, more than five years after the tower fire killed 72 people, would be the first public admission of blame on behalf of the government.

He also said he wanted to abolish the outdated, feudal system of leasehold property by the end of this legislature. And he said developers would be given six weeks on Monday to sign a legally binding contract committing them to fixing unsafe towers or banning the construction of new homes.

In an interview with The Sunday Times, the top Tory said he accepted lax housing regulations were partly to blame for the Grenfell disaster. He said: There was a regulatory system that was flawed. The government has not thought seriously enough, or policed ​​effectively enough, about the entire building security system. Undoubtedly.

He added: I believe that [the guidance] was so flawed and ambiguous that it allowed unscrupulous people to exploit a failing system in ways that led to tragedy.

In an interview with Sky News on Sunday, Gove said there was no denying the building regulations in force at the time were not correct.

He added: If you look at what happened at Grenfell, there were a lot of factors, but yes the government must collectively take some responsibility.

I think the responsibility extends before the Conservatives came to government in 2010 and I don’t want to blame individuals, I think that’s wrong, because many of us have the responsibility to say that the system of regulations that were in place were ambiguous and it was operated by people who put profit before life.

The government’s Upgrading, Housing and Communities Department will issue a new contract to developers on Monday ordering them to commit within six weeks to repairing unsafe surfacing or being barred from building new homes.

He said the contract should end the policy that tenants have to pay to fix unsafe flooring. He said: People responsible for constructing buildings that we now know are unsafe must pay the fees to ensure those buildings are safe.

It is expected to cost developers around $5 billion to remove and repair fire-risk coatings on the homes of around 700,000 people. Only 7% of unsafe flats have been repaired since the Grenfell disaster on June 14, 2017.

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Gove said he expected the Grenfell Tower inquiry, due to deliver its findings later this year, to place some responsibility on the government for housing regulations that allowed homes to be coated with hazardous materials.

The Housing Secretary has said he wants to abolish leasehold ownership by the end of this Parliament, which is due next year. This would have significant implications for almost one in five homes in England, or 4.8 million of the total, which are held on lease.

He told Sky News: We want to introduce legislation in the final sessions of parliament this calendar year to change the tenancy system. It’s not easy legally, because you have a tangle of agreements going back hundreds of years, it’s all difficult, but the fundamental thing is that lease is an unfair form of ownership.

In crude terms, if you’re buying an apartment, it should be yours. You should not be held liable for charges that management agents and others may make against you that cause you to be defrauded.

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