<p><span>There will be no “backsliding” on the government’s intended £3 billion extension to the Building Safety Levy, Greg Clark, the new levelling up secretary, has stated.</span></p> <p>The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) has published an article Clark wrote for the <i>i</i> newspaper, with the levelling up secretary saying that the levy, announced by Clark’s predecessor Michael Gove and requiring housebuilders to fix “orphaned buildings” for fire safety, would remain. He stated that this funding was “essential to rebuilding confidence in the sector.”</p> <p><span>“The taxpayer is contributing £5 billion towards fixing those buildings which have been left orphaned by absentee developers: the industry must pay its share too,” Clark wrote. “The approach to industry contributions and leaseholder protection has the strong and unambiguous support of all parties in parliament.”</span></p> <p><span>Clark has also published the contract that will make the government’s building safety pledge legally binding. “It is time these commitments are put into force,” he stated.</span></p> <p><span>Housebuilders that have signed up to the pledge now have four weeks to comment on the documentation, “after which the contract will be finalised,” Clark stated. “The faithful translation of these pledges into action is essential to the reputation for dependability that …