The government is to pay the £200 million bill of replacing Grenfell Tower-type cladding on around 150 private blocks in England with a safer option. Housing Secretary James Brokenshire had previously said the bill should be paid by the owners not the taxpayers.
Seventy-two people died when Grenfell Tower was destroyed by fire in June 2017. It is one of the UK’s worst modern disasters, it only took minutes for the building to be engulfed in flames which raced up the exterior of the building and spread up the four sides. A public inquiry into the fire showed evidence that supported the theory the cladding was the primary cause of the fire to spread.
Figures show 166 private residential buildings out of the 176 pinpointed with aluminium composite material (ACM) cladding, the same type used on Grenfell Tower, are yet to start works on removing and replacing it.
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Theresa May has confirmed the government will allocate £200 million to fix private tower blocks which are wrapped in the Grenfell-style cladding. Theresa May said the money will be made available to remove and replace unsafe ACM cladding from 170 privately owned high-rise buildings. The money will not be enough to fix all of them.
Grenfell United is a group of survivors and close relations/friends of the victims who have been campaigning for money to be released for private tower blocks. The group met May at Downstreet this week in the run up to the announcement – they welcomed the move as a small step.
A spokesperson for the group said: “Today’s announcement offers hope to people in dangerous blocks that the nightmare they have been living for nearly two years is almost over.
“This result is a testament to residents themselves, in social and private blocks, who refused to be ignored. The truth is we should never have had to fight for it. It is not a quick fix so we ask the government to also consider what financial support can be put in place while residents continue with night watches and wait for remediation works to start.”
On Thursday May said: “We’ve seen a number of private building owners doing the right thing and taking responsibility, but unfortunately too many are continuing to pass on the costs of removal and replacement to leaseholders. Today I can confirm we will now be fully funding the replacement of cladding on high-rise private residential buildings so residents can feel confident they are secure in their homes.”
Gary Porter, the chair of the Local Government Association, said: “This announcement will come as an enormous relief to leaseholders who are in no way to blame for the dangerous cladding on their homes. They have suffered for far too long. Reputable developers have done the right thing and paid for buildings to be fixed, but it would be wrong if the taxpayer had to pay the bills of those developers and contractors who are responsible for this crisis.”
