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Morning Briefing: Grenfell neighbours ‘stuck in limbo’

News20.03.189.10 AM by Carl Brown

Grenfell neighbours are in dispute with Kensington and Chelsea Council, and The Guardian follows up Inside Housing’s report about tower blocks failing fire safety tests in Manchester

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The Grenfell Tower fire has left many without a home (picture: Getty)
The Grenfell Tower fire has left many without a home (picture: Getty)
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Morning Briefing: The Guardian follows up Inside Housing’s story about Manchester tower blocks failing safety tests #ukhousing
Morning Briefing: Grenfell neighbours’ dispute with Kensington and Chelsea Council #ukhousing

In the news

The Times is reporting today that families living in adjoining blocks to Grenfell Tower are in dispute with Kensington and Chelsea Council and as a result are “stuck in taxpayer-funded hotel rooms”.

The Times, along with other newspapers including The Guardian, is also reporting that more than £20m has been spent on rooms for survivors and local residents since the fatal blaze last June.

Away from London, The Guardian is reporting that 367 tower blocks have failed to meet fire safety standards in Manchester during tests carried out since the Grenfell fire. The information was released under the Freedom of Information Act following a request by campaigner Phil Murphy. Inside Housing first reported these figures earlier this month.

Social housing repairs and maintenance contractor Mears has published its results for 2017 today and reported that its revenue was affected by delays in work due to Grenfell. The contractor reported a 4% drop in overall turnover to £900m, and a 3% drop in housing turnover to £766m.

Turnover slowed from £470m in the first six months of 2017 to £429m in the second half of the year. Mears’ statement to the stock market said the slowdown reflected “the delays in the timing of our planned workload as clients’ attention was diverted towards ensuring that their housing portfolios were safe”.

Bellway has also reported its interim results, announcing a 15.6% increase in gross profit to £343.1m. The house builder said government initiatives, including Help to Buy and stamp duty tax relief for first-time buyers, are “helping customers to meet deposit requirements”, with Help to Buy used in 39% of Bellway completions.

In case you missed it, the National Housing Federation has published its ‘Home Truths’ report, which contains housing market data from the nine English regions. We pulled out some of the data on empty homes here.

In Wales, the South Wales Argus is reporting that councillors have ordered a review of Monmouthshire County Council’s housing strategy after failing to hit housebuilding targets,

Website Wales Online is reporting criticism of Swansea Council for increasing rents by twice the rate of inflation.

In the South West, website Devon Live has a report about the recently completed merger between DCH and Knightstone to form 36,000-home Liverty. Inside Housing also reported on this merger earlier this month.

Finally, the This Is Lancashire website has a report about the Greater Manchester Combined Authority identifying brownfield sites for 175,000 homes.

On social media

Yesterday was #housingdiversityday, and we also opened nominations for our first ever BME Leaders List. We asked you to tweet the names of inspirational BME leaders in the UK housing sector. Here are a few of your suggestions:

What’s on

  • The Chartered Institute of Housing is running a session called ‘Regulatory Compliance in the New World’ at Trowers & Hamlins’ Birmingham office from 1pm
Fire safetyMorning Briefing
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