The government is threatening to name and shame landlords who are taking too long to replace dangerous Grenfell-style cladding from next month.
Progress to address safety issues following the Grenfell Tower fire has been “unacceptably slow”, the Housing Secretary said as he announced a series of planned reforms.
Robert Jenrick said he was preparing to name and shame those responsible for private buildings which have yet to start remediation work to deal with “unsafe ACM cladding”, the type cited as the main reason for the rapid spread of fire at Grenfell.
Mr Jenrick told MPs he would begin immediately to establish the new building safety regulator and he is “minded” to lower the height threshold for sprinkler requirements in new buildings from 18 metres to 11 metres.
Making a statement to the Commons, Mr Jenrick welcomed recent progress before adding remediation of “unsafe ACM cladding, especially in the private sector, is still far too slow”.
(Image: Paul Davey/SWNS)
He said this “absolutely cannot continue” and added: “Although all unsafe ACM cladding now has mitigation safety measures in place where required, I do not underestimate the concern of residents living in these buildings where remediation has not even started.
“The latest data shows that out of 92 buildings in scope, 82 applications have been made to the private sector ACM cladding mediation fund and those 10 who have not applied have exceptional circumstances, which I have reviewed.”
Shadow housing secretary John Healey said the proposals are “too little, at least two years too late”.
Mr Healey said that whilst the then prime minister Theresa May promised immediately after Grenfell that the Tories “will not ask people to live in unsafe homes”, “thousands of people continue to live in unsafe homes, condemned to do so by this Government’s failure on all fronts after Grenfell”.
