Government announces new plan to fix cladding on high-rise buildings

Dangerous cladding on all high-rise buildings in government-funded schemes in England will be fixed by the end of 2029, Angela Rayner has pledged.

Yesterday, the deputy prime minister announced the Remediation Action Plan – an acceleration plan to remove unsafe cladding from buildings which are 18 metres or more, which will includes severe penalties for freeholders who fail to act.

The announcement comes seven years after the Grenfell Tower fire killed 72 people in 2017.

The plan aims to have fixed or set a completion date for remedial work for every building of 11 metres and over with unsafe cladding by the end of 2029,  otherwise landlords would face hefty fines.

Welcoming the move, Cllr Grace Williams, London Councils’ Executive Member for Housing and Regeneration said: “Like the government, we want to see faster action in removing unsafe cladding and ensuring that all residents are safe – and feel safe – in their homes.

“This is a particular concern in London, where we have 67 per cent of all the UK’s high-rise residential buildings.”

The final report on the Grenfell tragedy was published in September. The inquiry found that the disaster was the result of “decades of failure” by central government to stop the use of combustible cladding as well as the “systematic dishonesty” of multimillion-dollar companies and “persistent indifference” to fire safety issues from the local authority’s housing management.

Cllr Williams said: “Although good progress has been made in removing unsafe cladding from council-owned blocks and taking action against the owners of private buildings, there remain immense challenges and much more work to do.

“Boroughs’ lack of resources are a critical factor holding back the enforcement and remediation we all want to see.”

Earlier this year the cross-party group warned of a £700m “black hole” in boroughs’ social housing finances despite the clear need to invest in building safety, as well as developing new social housing.

But, she said: “We welcome the government’s commitment to investing in enforcement and look forward to seeing more details on this.”

Pictured top: Image shows cladding removal during the Met’s investigation of the Grenfell Fire (Picture: The Met)