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Landlords demand government help with cladding costs
Landlords are demanding government assistance to help cover the cost of tearing down cladding from high rises, amid warnings the work will cost millions and could take months.
Dissatisfaction with the process of testing cladding has been mounting, with 202 aluminium composite material (ACM) panels in 55 areas having failed the test as Inside Housing went to press.
Steve Eling, leader of Labour-led Sandwell Council, which has removed ACM panelling at four blocks, said the authority expects government to pay for the work “particularly as we are confident that the panels we have removed… met building regulations at the time they were installed and would continue to do so today”.
The leader of Conservative-led Plymouth Council has written to Westminster seeking assurances that Plymouth Community Homes will get financial support for cladding removal works on its tower blocks.
The government said on Wednesday that where a landlord lacks funds to pay for the work it “will ensure that lack of financial resources will not prevent it going ahead”.
However this will be considered on a “case by case” basis.
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Hounslow Council expects to spend £1m on the removal and replacement of cladding and insulation, while Oxford Council estimates the work will cost £1.6m on two tower blocks.
Portsmouth Council previously told the BBC that removing cladding from two of its blocks “could take months”.
Donna Jones, leader of the council, said the work would cost “millions”. Plymouth Community Homes has set the end of November as its target completion date for removing panels, and does not yet know how long installing a new system will take.
And in Greater Manchester, Salix Homes, City West Housing Trust and One Manchester have halted the removal of cladding from high-rise blocks, citing “unclear” advice on the relative safety of different types of cladding.
Eamon McGoldrick, managing director of the National Federation of Arm’s-Length Management Organisations, warned: “Even if the government does make some funding available it’s going to have lots of caveats and ribbons and bows attached to it.”
Steve Bullock, mayor of Lewisham Council and executive director of housing at London Councils, has written to communities secretary Sajid Javid asking him to clarify if government funding will be made available and when.
Additional reporting by Sophie Barnes
