You are viewing 1 of your 1 free articles
Government must put deadlines on post-Grenfell work, says Labour
The government must set deadlines for the re-housing of survivors displaced by the Grenfell Tower fire and for the remediation of private blocks found to have Grenfell-style cladding, the shadow housing minister has said.
Labour’s shadow housing secretary John Healey said that “it was a matter of deep shame” that survivors still didn’t live in permanent homes 18 months on from the fire.
In a letter to housing secretary James Brokenshire, Mr Healey said: “It is shocking that one in four survivors are still not in permanent new homes. It should not be beyond the capacity of the national government of a country of 27 million households to find acceptable accommodation for just 203 households who have suffered an unimaginable trauma.”
Of the 203 surviving households, 54 are still without permanent homes and are living in temporary accommodation, hotels, serviced apartments or with family.
Mr Healey also said it was “unacceptable” that there was no plan in place for many privately owned buildings clad in aluminium composite material cladding similar to that found on Grenfell.
Figures released by the government today show that “plans remain unclear” for 69 of the 272 privately owned buildings with Grenfell-style cladding.
Mr Healey said: “It is clear that the pace of remediation is too slow, in parts of the social sector, but especially in the private sector.”
READ MORE
Last week the government announced it would provide financial support for local authorities to remove flammable cladding from privately owned buildings.
Mr Healey said the government must now set firm deadlines for when all survivors will have a permanent home and all buildings will have replaced dangerous cladding.
He also asked how much funding the government has set aside for local authorities to take action against private landlords who have failed to take action on cladding, and questioned whether councils would be given expanded powers to carry out this responsibility.
A Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government spokesperson said: “The government remains committed to ensuring all survivors of the Grenfell Tower tragedy are re-housed as quickly as possible.
“Every household has had an offer of accommodation, and 99% of the 201 households have now accepted an offer.
“Nothing is more important than making sure people are safe in their homes, and we have set up a robust building safety programme, making clear to building owners and developers that they must replace dangerous cladding as soon as possible.”
A spokesperson from Kensington and Chelsea Council told Inside Housing that the council did not want to set arbitrary deadlines for when all survivors should be in permanent homes as this approach has been unhelpful in the past and puts unnecessary stress on survivors.
Never Again campaign
In the days following the Grenfell Tower fire on 14 June 2017, Inside Housing launched the Never Again campaign to call for immediate action to implement the learning from the Lakanal House fire, and a commitment to act – without delay – on learning from the Grenfell Tower tragedy as it becomes available.
One year on, we have extended the campaign asks in the light of information that has emerged since.
Here are our updated asks:
GOVERNMENT
- Act on the recommendations from Dame Judith Hackitt’s review of building regulations to tower blocks of 18m and higher. Commit to producing a timetable for implementation by autumn 2018, setting out how recommendations that don’t require legislative change can be taken forward without delay
- Follow through on commitments to fully ban combustible materials on high-rise buildings
- Unequivocally ban desktop studies
- Review recommendations and advice given to ministers after the Lakanal House fire and implement necessary changes
- Publish details of all tower blocks with dangerous cladding, insulation and/or external panels and commit to a timeline for remedial works. Provide necessary guidance to landlords to ensure that removal work can begin on all affected private and social residential blocks by the end of 2018. Complete quarterly follow-up checks to ensure that remedial work is completed to the required standard. Checks should not cease until all work is completed.
- Stand by the prime minister’s commitment to fully fund the removal of dangerous cladding
- Fund the retrofitting of sprinkler systems in all tower blocks across the UK (except where there are specific structural reasons not to do so)
- Explore options for requiring remedial works on affected private sector residential tower blocks
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
- Take immediate action to identify privately owned residential tower blocks so that cladding and external panels can be checked
LANDLORDS
- Publish details of the combinations of insulations and cladding materials for all high rise blocks
- Commit to ensuring that removal work begins on all blocks with dangerous materials by the end of 2018 upon receipt of guidance from government
- Publish current fire risk assessments for all high rise blocks (the Information Commissioner has required councils to publish and recommended that housing associations should do the same). Work with peers to share learning from assessments and improve and clarify the risk assessment model.
- Commit to renewing assessments annually and after major repair or cladding work is carried out. Ensure assessments consider the external features of blocks. Always use an appropriate, qualified expert to conduct assessments.
- Review and update evacuation policies and ‘stay put’ advice in the light of risk assessments, and communicate clearly to residents
- Adopt Dame Judith Hackitt’s recommended approach for listening to and addressing tenants’ concerns, with immediate effect
CURRENT SIGNATORIES:
- Chartered Institute of Housing
- G15
- National Federation of ALMOs
- National Housing Federation
- Placeshapers
