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Salford secures funding for replacement cladding
Work is set to start on replacing cladding on nine tower blocks in Salford after funding was secured following an initial stand-off with government, the council has said.
Pendleton Together, Salford Council’s housing company in charge of maintaining the nine blocks, had previously been barred from accessing the £400m fund set up by the government to replace cladding on high-rise towers.
According to the government the £400m fund was only available to local authorities and housing associations.
Neither was Salford allowed to lend the money to the company, sparking a catch-22 situation where the council felt unable to fund the removal of the dangerous cladding.
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Work had expected to begin in the summer, however delays surfaced after Pendleton, which is led by Together Housing Group, was unable to access the public funds due to its role as a public finance initiative (PFI) contractor.
In September, Salford Council slammed the government’s decision to refuse to allow the council to lend Pendleton up to £25m for the works via its own borrowing powers in lieu of access to the £400m funding pot.
Commenting on the funding deal, deputy city mayor councillor John Merry said: “The government were washing their hands of the situation. Our PFI partners have worked with us to come up with a solution. I would like to thank them for their hard work and commitment to providing safe homes.
“Our pleas for financial support were repeatedly ignored in the wake of the Grenfell fire. We were initially told by government that the council was responsible for funding the works to make the building safe, only to be told in the past few weeks that we could not lend the funds to get works started and that the PFI contractor itself would not qualify for national remediation funding.
“You couldn’t make it up. We remain focused on doing the right thing for residents – which is getting the works done as quickly as possible. We know our local community will be relieved that the PFI contractor, PTOL [Pendleton Together Operating Ltd], have the means to pay for a detailed fire safety programme to keep homes safe and warm.”
Salford is working with engineer Arup to draw up a revised programme for the cladding work, with Pendleton expected to confirm a timetable for works next month.
Together Housing Group has been contacted for comment.
