Londoners stuck in buildings with Grenfell-style cladding for another Christmas

Most Londoners living in buildings with Grenfell-style cladding will likely spend Christmas in fire-risk homes. This comes as a result of serious delays to the removal of aluminium composite material (ACM) cladding, with the Government likely to miss its own deadlines. At least 125 buildings in the capital – both private and social sector – are yet to be remediated. In September, the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said Whitehall targets for the dangerous material to be removed were “unrealistic” and “irresponsible”. At today’s (Thursday) Mayor’s Question Time, Labour’s London Assembly Fire and Resilience Spokesperson, Andrew Dismore AM, will ask whether enough has been done to ensure a fire like that at Grenfell can never happen again.

Data released on Friday by the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), showed that in London, Greenwich and Tower Hamlets still have more than twenty towers with ACM cladding, while Brent, Newham, Wandsworth and Westminster all have more than ten such buildings. Another seventeen London boroughs have towers left to be fixed.

Across the country, 7,100 flats are in social sector buildings yet to be remediated. Between 12,800 and 16,600 privately owned flats are in towers wrapped with ACM cladding.  The number of affected flats in London is not regularly released by the Government.

Earlier this year, James Brokenshire MP, the former Secretary of State at the MHCLG, said that all social sector buildings with ACM cladding should be fixed by the end of 2019. Later, Sadiq Khan said that based on the estimated dates for completion, the commitment would not be met. Greater London Authority (GLA) data shows that the average time for remediation works on social sector buildings is approximately eight months.

The Government also set a deadline for the remediation of ACM cladding on all private sector buildings of June next year (2020). City Hall said this commitment was “irresponsible and unrealistic” and warned that the Government would miss its own “entirely unachievable” deadline. Mayor Khan attributed this to “supply chain pressures, delays in the Government creating this fund, Brexit, the complexity of the fund process as designed by MHCLG, and the fundamental fact that buildings owners control the pace of remediation.”

The Greater London Authority is responsible for administering the remediation funds for private and social buildings in the capital, but the process and resources are set by the Government.

At today’s (Thursday’s) Mayor’s Question Time, Mr Dismore will question the Mayor on whether enough has been done to make sure a fire like that at Grenfell Tower could not happen again. He is also due to ask questions about whether the London Fire Brigade (LFB) is learning the lessons set out by the Grenfell Tower Inquiry. Mr Dismore is expected to urge the Mayor to put pressure on the Government to reform building safety laws.

Labour’s London Assembly Fire and Resilience Spokesperson, Andrew Dismore AM, said:

“Our homes should be the places where we feel safest, but that won’t be the case for Londoners stuck in buildings with ACM cladding over Christmas. The Government themselves have identified these buildings as unsafe; do they feel no shame in dragging their feet in this way?

“Here in the capital, we must be entirely sure that London Fire Brigade are swiftly and thoroughly learning the lessons of the Grenfell Tower fire. I’m leading that work on the London Assembly and we won’t relent in our scrutiny until we are certain this has happened.

“Fundamentally, the most significant change has to come from the Government. It’s only through real reform of building safety laws that we can go that much further towards preventing the inaction and mistakes that could lead to another Grenfell.

‘Whilst these figures refer to ACM cladding, that is not the end of the story, as many other blocks also have flammable cladding of different types, which must not be overlooked.

“One Secretary of State has followed another with a slapdash approach to fixing this vital problem. In November, I wrote to the current Secretary of State, Robert Jenrick, to raise concerns about unrealistic targets. Unfortunately, the response I got brushed over the problem. When will the Government take this life and death matter seriously?”

ENDS

Notes

  • Mayor’s Question Time begins at 10am on Thursday 19th December and can be viewed via a webcast here;
  • The latest Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) data was released on 13th December 2019, and can be found here;
  • Andrew Dismore’s question to the Mayor about remediation of social sector buildings in September, and the Mayor’s response, can be found here and below:

Question

On 18 July, James Brokenshire MP, who was secretary of state at MHCLG at the time, said that all social sector buildings with ACM cladding should be fixed by Christmas 2019. How many buildings will the GLA’s administration of the social sector cladding remediation fund have to cover between 12 September 2019 and December 31 2019, that have not already been allocated funding, in order to meet this target?

Answer

Based on the estimated dates of completion from social landlords, this commitment will not be met. It was an unrealistic and irresponsible deadline. 

  • Andrew Dismore’s subsequent question to the Mayor about the funding for the remediation of social sector buildings, and the Mayor’s response, can be found here and below:

Question

On 18 July, James Brokenshire MP, who was secretary of state at MHCLG at the time, said that all social sector buildings with ACM cladding should be fixed by Christmas 2019. How many dwellings are contained in buildings that the GLA’s administration of the social sector cladding remediation fund have to cover between 12 September 2019 and December 31 2019, that have not already been allocated funding?

Answer

Based on the estimated dates of completion from social landlords, this commitment will not be met. It was an unrealistic and irresponsible deadline. 

  • Andrew Dismore’s question to the Mayor about remediation of private sector buildings, and the Mayor’s response, can be found here and below:

Question

On 18 July, James Brokenshire MP, who was secretary of state at MHCLG at the time, said that all private sector buildings with ACM cladding should be fixed by June 2020. How many buildings will the GLA’s administration of the private sector cladding remediation fund have to cover from 12 September 2019 to June 30 2020, that have not already been allocated funding, in order to meet this target?

Answer

The Private Sector ACM Cladding Remediation Fund will open for applications later this month. The June 2020 commitment to remediate all buildings was irresponsible and unrealistic – the Government will fail to meet its own deadline. Supply chain pressures, delays in the Government creating this fund, Brexit, the complexity of the fund process as designed by MHCLG, and the fundamental fact that buildings owners control the pace of remediation, means this deadline is entirely unachievable.  

  • The scope and funding conditions for the Private Sector ACM Cladding Remediation Fund are set by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. Elsewhere in England, the fund is administered by Homes England. Since 2012, the GLA has held the powers of Homes England in London, and therefore took on administration of the social and private sector remediation funds. Background on the Mayoral Decisions to take on the social sector fund is here, and the private sector fund is here;
  • On 18th July, James Brokenshire MP presented a written statement to the House of Commons which detailed two deadlines to remove and replace the ACM cladding still present on tall buildings across the UK. For buildings in the social sector, Mr Brokenshire stated “other than a small handful of exceptional cases, remediation will be completed by the end of the year.” Private sector buildings were expected to have a remediation plan, with start and finish dates, in place by the end of 2019. The finished dates in these plans should be no later than June 2020. Mr Brokenshire promised “enforcement action” against private sector building owners who did not comply with the end of December deadline. Applications to the private sector cladding remediation fund also face a December 2019 deadline;
  • Andrew Dismore AM is the London Assembly Member for Barnet and Camden.
FacebookTwitterLinkedInShare