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The government will fully fund the removal and replacement of dangerous cladding for councils and housing associations, the prime minister has announced.
Conservative MP Bob Blackman asked Theresa May for an update on the work done by the government to ensure that tower blocks around the country are safe at Prime Minister’s Questions.
Ms May replied: “Councils and housing associations must remove dangerous cladding quickly, but paying for these works must not undermine their ability to do important maintenance and repair work.
“And I’ve worked closely with my right honourable friends the chancellor and the housing secretary, and I can today confirm that the government will fully fund the removal and replacement of dangerous cladding by councils and housing associations, estimated at £400m, and the housing secretary will set out further details later this week.”
The government has refused for some time to fund the removal of cladding found not to be fire-safe in tests following the Grenfell Tower fire.
Up to now, only four councils had been promised financial help with such work, despite 36 councils submitting requests for aid.
Nationally, there are 317 towers known to have aluminium composite, of which 304 towers need the cladding removed.
Councils and housing associations own 158 of these, with removal work having begun on 104 and completed on just seven.
Camden Council alone is spending between £50m and £56m to remove cladding from five towers, casting doubt on the government’s belief that the work can be completed for a £400m price tag.
The government has previously repeatedly said it will not allow financial restraints to prevent cladding removal work, but has required councils and associations to borrow the money privately to carry out the work.
This has resulted in warnings that repairs and development schemes will suffer as social landlords shift millions of capital spending into removal projects.
The National Housing Federation has called for a national, state-funded programme of works to remove cladding from buildings.
It follows months of wrangling over building regulations, with the government defying the view of many in the industry that official guidance permitted the use of Class 0 panels, now known to be dangerous.
It is not yet clear what will become of at least 132 private sector buildings where dangerous cladding has been identified.
Leaseholders in these blocks currently face extortionate bills to fund removal works with building owners refusing to pay.
Mayors Andy Burnham and Sadiq Khan have both called on the government to fund the costs of removing cladding from private blocks.
Read our in-depth investigation into how building regulations have changed over time and how this may have contributed to the Grenfell Tower fire:
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
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
LANDLORDS