Government to pay for removal of Grenfell-style unsafe cladding

DANGEROUS cladding will be stripped from more than 170 tower blocks after the Government said it would meet the £200 million costs.

Residents in blocks across the country faced bills of thousands of pounds to have cladding removed after developers and freeholders threatened to pass the costs on to leaseholders.

Nearly two years after 72 people lost their lives in the Grenfell Tower fire, the Government has committed to fund the removal of the aluminium composite material (ACM) cladding used on 176 blocks nationwide.

James Brokenshire, communities secretary, said: “While some building owners have been swift to act… I am now calling time on the delay tactics of others. If these reckless building owners won’t act, the Government will.”

Leaseholders welcomed the government fund, but branded it a “cladding lottery” because other tower blocks with potentially unsafe cladding will not be eligible for the money.

The UK Cladding Action Group said: “While this will be a relief for thousands trapped in buildings with ACM cladding, we must not forget the many, many leaseholders and social housing tenants living in blocks with other forms of unsafe cladding.”

Over the past two years leaseholders have fought building owners in the courts while paying for extra safety measures, such as 24-hour fire wardens required for a “waking watch”. Leaseholders fear they still face huge bills for waking watches while work is carried out.

“Until the cladding comes off we will be expected to pay,” said Will Martin, 31, one of the founders of the UK Cladding Action Group. “That’s crippling. That’s our holidays, our life plans, everything still on hold.”

Government figures show that 11 privately owned blocks out of 176 have had the cladding removed. A Government spokesperson said tests of nonacm cladding were under way with final results expected “in the summer”.