Developers should pay price for defective work
Today the Senedd will discuss the UK cladding scandal in which flat-owners have been landed with bills often running into tens of thousands of pounds to make their apartment blocks safe in the wake of the Grenfell Tower disaster. Here, Plaid Cymru’s Rhys
ONE of the first meetings I held since my election in May was with residents from Victoria Wharf in Cardiff Bay. They were concerned about the safety of their homes.
My constituents Non and Gwenallt Rees said to me: “Why are we as owners of flats responsible for facing the huge costs of solving the problem of cladding created by others? The Welsh Government’s inaction is inexcusable and irresponsible.”
Their frustration is palpable and the need for action regarding the issue of building safety for high rise flats should be a priority for both governments in London and Cardiff.
Plaid Cymru believes that innocent leaseholders should not pay for defective work by developers.
I am also concerned about the impact the situation is having on the mental health of leaseholders. I’ve met many now, and the strain is obvious on their faces. Part of the strain is that people have not been getting answers about who will be responsible for remedial work.
The Welsh Government and the Westminster Government have had more than enough time to come up with a solution, it is after all four years after the Grenfell tragedy in London.
I continue to press the Welsh Government and the Conservative Westminster Government to support my constituents living in apartments.
One aspect of my campaign is putting forward a Members’ Legislative Proposal, a backbench bill to ensure the safety of residents. The purpose of the bill is to make sure safe cladding is available on buildings.
Many in flats in Cardiff Bay can see the Senedd, but don’t feel listened to, and feel they are an afterthought, rather than have the issues they have raised taken seriously by Welsh and UK Ministers.
I am pleased that other members of the Senedd have supported the proposal. I hope that those homeowners in high rise flats in Cardiff Bay and across Wales feel that Senedd Members are taking this issue seriously.
The Welsh Government is beginning to wake up to the situation and has launched a Welsh Building Safety Fund, but much more needs to be done by the governments of Boris Johnson and Mark Drakeford.
One constituent has highlighted how the Welsh Government could make an immediate impact by funding sprinklers in developments. This would be relatively low cost but provide immediate and significant benefits to homeowners’ safety
A problem with this issue is we don’t know how many buildings in Wales are affected by fire safety issues, and I acknowledge that this is a far wider problem than external cladding, as the Welsh Government admits. We need to understand the cladding challenge and the wider building safety issue before public bodies and developers start to address it.
New legislation was promised by the Welsh Government in this Senedd term to address this issue but that will take some time and will not address the added stress many of these flat owners feel now.
I welcome the Welsh Government’s proposals for new building safety measures for Wales that will cover all multi-occupied residential buildings.
Some of the Welsh Government’s proposals are being taken forward through the Building Safety Bill at Westminster, a Legislative Consent Memorandum relating to that Bill has been laid before the Senedd, while others will be implemented through a Senedd Bill.
In the long-term Plaid Cymru will be pressing the Welsh Government to seek the powers to introduce a windfall tax on the profits of large developers and use the proceeds to solve the problems created by poor builds, which can trap owners into poor quality flats and houses with no recourse, which has been the case with the cladding scandal.