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Metro mayors unveil regional plans for speeding up removal of unsafe cladding
Local action plans to speed up the remediation of unsafe cladding have been drawn up by combined mayoral authorities in the West Midlands and West Yorkshire.
Local action plans to speed up the remediation of unsafe cladding have been drawn up by combined authorities in the West Midlands and West Yorkshire #UKHousingThe plans feed into the government’s Remediation Acceleration Plan (RAP) which called on regional authorities and metro mayors to draw up strategies to drive action on remediation at a local level.
The West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) launched its plan this week to fix unsafe blocks of above 11 metres in the region, with a call for residents and stakeholders to have their say.
The plan focuses on fixing buildings faster through greater enforcement, increasing monitoring to identify buildings with unsafe cladding and supporting residents throughout the remediation process.
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Richard Parker, mayor of the West Midlands, said: “I’ve listened to heartbreaking stories from residents about the impact living in an unsafe building is having on their lives.
“The Grenfell Tower tragedy must always remain in our minds as a stark example of what can happen when safety is not put first.
“That’s why we’ve been working with partner agencies to get the remediation process sped up, so we can ensure nothing like this ever happens again. Everyone deserves a safe home.”
Meanwhile in West Yorkshire, the combined authority decided last week to adopt the West Yorkshire Local Remediation Acceleration Plan (LRAP), working in partnership with the West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service and five local authorities.
It will aim to oversee the development of a single dataset for West Yorkshire, and to review regular reports on the progress of remediation in the region and the actions being taken to speed it up.
According to the LRAP, in West Yorkshire there are currently 60 buildings going through remediation programmes where work has not yet started on site, a further 24 buildings where work has started and 41 which have been completed.
The plan also said a Homes England review of Ordnance Survey records has resulted in an additional 57 buildings with potentially unsafe cladding seeking verification in West Yorkshire.
The Greater Manchester Combined Authority published its action plan in the summer, and the West of England Combined Authority has said it will publish its plan this autumn.
In September 2024, following publication of the final Grenfell Tower Inquiry report, then-deputy prime minister and housing secretary Angela Rayner wrote to all mayoral combined authorities requesting that they work with regulators to prepare local remediation plans.
The strategies are designed to complement the RAP, which includes strict deadlines requiring landlords of buildings that are 18 metres or taller with unsafe cladding to complete remediation by the end of 2029.
For blocks between 11 and 18 metres, remediation will need to be completed by the end of 2031.
Building owners that fail to comply without reasonable excuse could face unlimited fines or imprisonment.
A report from the English regulator this week has shown a slight fall in the number of social housing blocks that still had no clear remediation completion date in the first quarter of this year.
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