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Campaigners dismayed at Fire Safety Bill amendment defeat
Campaigners seeking to prevent fire safety costs falling on leaseholders have said they are “extremely disappointed” after a proposed amendment to the Fire Safety Bill was voted down last night.
The End Our Cladding Scandal (EOCS) campaign has accused the government of failing in its duty to protect the lives of citizens after MPs voted 340-225 against backing an amendment which would have banned leaseholders from being forced to pay for cladding remediation works.
Giles Grover from the campaign said: “Successive Conservative prime ministers and ministers have said numerous times that building owners and developers must do the right thing, yet when it has come to the government doing the right thing, it has chosen not to do so.
“The first duty of the government is to protect and safeguard the lives of its citizens; today it has failed in that duty and, in doing so, has failed leaseholders. Tonight, millions of people will go to sleep feeling trapped and abandoned.”
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Former housing minister Kit Malthouse, who represented the government in the debate, argued that the Fire Safety Bill “is not the correct place for remediation costs to be addressed” and pointed instead to the forthcoming Building Safety Bill.
But EOCS campaigners warned that no date has been set yet for the bill to be presented to parliament and that the government’s response to the Housing, Communities and Local Government Select Committee’s scrutiny of the bill is overdue by one month.
The latest blow to leaseholders comes after housing secretary Robert Jenrick announced in earlier this month that the government would provide an extra £3.5bn for cladding removal on buildings taller than 18m. Mr Jenrick also unveiled a levy on developers seeking permission to build high-rise blocks in the future and introduced a long-term loan scheme for leaseholders in buildings below 18m.
The EOCS campaign reiterated after yesterday’s vote that it considered these measures “deeply unsatisfactory”.
Grenfell United, a group representing bereaved family members and survivors of the Grenfell Tower tragedy, tweeted: “Today’s vote was a disgrace and extremely disheartening to see that those elected to represent us are actively working against our interests.”
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