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Corbyn urges Johnson to set ‘hard deadline’ for private sector cladding removal
Jeremy Corbyn has called on the government to set a “hard deadline” for private building owners to fix blocks with Grenfell-style cladding.
Out of 181 privately owned blocks with aluminium composite material (ACM), only 13 have completed remediation works, latest figures showed last week.
Housing minister Esther McVey said in August it was the government’s “expectation” that all private sector remediation work would be finished by June 2020, unless there are “exceptional circumstances”.
However in his response to the Queen’s Speech today, Mr Corbyn told the House of Commons: “Will he (Boris Johnson) confirm he will set a hard deadline for all landlords to replace dangerous cladding?”
He also urged the prime minister to “toughen sanctions” against block owners that will not do the work and fund the retrofitting of sprinklers in all high-rise social housing blocks.
He also called for budget cuts to the fire service to be “restored”.
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Last week’s figures, covering the period until the end of September, showed there were still 22 privately-owned buildings with ACM cladding with no clear remediation plans.
Mr Corbyn flagged that not a single privately owned building had been remediated since Boris Johnson took over as prime minister in July.
In May, former prime minister Theresa May launched a £200m fund to help fix privately owned blocks with ACM cladding.
However, several leaseholders have told Inside Housing that the £200m fund was starting to feel like a “PR stunt” because of the high barriers to applying, including the need for every leaseholder in a building to sign a five-page state aid form.
On the whole, the social housing sector has been quicker at remediating buildings in the wake of checks following the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017. However, 97 social housing blocks still have ACM cladding, with work completed on 61 buildings by the end of September.
Mr Corbyn also stepped up pressure on Mr Johnson to follow through with a promise during Mrs May’s administration to scrap Section 21 in the rental sector, known as ‘no fault’ evictions.
The government said in April it would ban the measure. A consultation on the ban closed on Friday.
Mr Corbyn reaffirmed that a Labour government would “end no-fault evictions”, tackle the “leasehold scandal” and “kick-start the largest council housebuilding programme of a generation”.
