Task force plea to sort cladding crisis

HOUSING: A national task force must be established to “get a grip on the deepening cladding crisis” in the wake of the Grenfell disaster, according to Labour.

The party’s leader, Sir Keir Starmer, made the call ahead of a parliamentary debate today on protecting tenants and leaseholders from unsafe cladding.

A NATIONAL task force must be established to “get a grip on the deepening cladding crisis”, according to Labour.

The party’s leader Sir Keir Starmer made the call ahead of a parliamentary debate today on protecting tenants and leaseholders from unsafe cladding.

Labour will push for a vote on the issue in demanding the Government urgently establishes the extent of dangerous cladding and prioritises buildings according to risk.

It comes more than three-anda-half years after the disaster at Grenfell Tower in 2017, which claimed the lives of 72 people.

On Wednesday Boris Johnson told MPs that Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick would be producing a plan “very shortly”.

Speaking ahead of the debate, Sir Keir said: “Today needs to be a turning point for those affected by the cladding scandal.

“Millions of people have been sucked into this crisis due to years of dither, delay and halfbaked solutions from the Government.

“For many leaseholders, the dream of home ownership has become a nightmare.

“They feel abandoned, locked down in flammable homes and facing ruinous costs for repair work and interim safety measures.”

The National Cladding Taskforce proposed by Labour would be modelled on the approach adopted in Australia and would seek to urgently carry out an audit to establish the extent of dangerous materials on buildings.

Six demands have been set out by the party towards fixing the issue, including providing immediate up-front funding to remove deadly cladding and setting absolute deadlines to make homes safe.

They also include creating new laws to protect leaseholders from being passed historic fire safety costs, protecting leaseholders and taxpayers by pursuing those responsible for putting cladding on the buildings, as well as stamping out rogue builders by reforming the sector.

The party has also said the Government should work with lenders, insurers and other industry leaders to ensure residents can sell and remortgage.

Sir Keir said: “I urge Conservative MPs to vote with us in Parliament today (Monday) and put their constituents’ safety and security first.

“And I urge the Government to get a grip of this crisis through a national task force and by implementing Labour’s six demands.”

There are at least 70 apartment buildings with unsafe cladding in Leeds. Sheffield has 36 blocks deemed unsafe and Bradford has 16.

The Government has set up a £1.6bn fund to replace flammable cladding, but there are fears that this will not be enough and that removal will take years due to the lack of specialist contractors.

Earlier this month, it was announced a new regulator will be set up to ensure the safety of building materials after “deeply disturbing” evidence of malpractice was heard at the Grenfell Inquiry, which has been temporaily suspended during England’s national lockdown.

It will be able to remove any products from the market that pose a safety risk and prosecute any companies that are found to be flouting rules.

If there are concerns about a product, the new body will be able to conduct its own tests against existing safety standards.

Ministers have also commissioned an independent review into weaknesses in previous testing regimes and will look at how abuse of these systems can be prevented.

They feel abandoned, locked down in flammable homes. Sir Keir Starmer, Labour Party leader.