This quick update from UK Cladding Group:
TODAYS ANNOUNCEMENTS
Dear all,
Many of you will have no doubt by now seen the news announced by Gove today. Incase you haven’t some of the new measures announced include:
The establishment of ‘Operation Apex’; a team of forensic accountants who will track down those responsible for the scandal, warning developers who fail to remediate issues “we are coming for you”
A further £4bn will be secured from developers to help cover the cost of the removal cladding from buildings under 18m and the scrapping of plans for ‘loans’.
The official withdrawal of the consolidated advice notice that has paralysed the market for 2 years.
A further funds for alarms to remove waking watches.
Measures to allow shared owners to sub-let
Whilst these steps are welcomed and will help many, we know that todays announcement doesn’t address the long list of other fire safety related problems which continue to cause misery for leaseholders. Issues such as fire stopping, fire doors, insurance costs, buildings under 11m…(the list goes on), still have yet to be addressed. Just like you, we are frustrated and exhausted by this situation. We can’t help but feel a sense of déjà vu…we’ve been here before (several times) but it does feel like there has been a change in tone.
Funding promises only deliver relief if said funds are easily to access and if remediation is prompt. Too many buildings with the exact same type of cladding as Grenfell (ACM) have yet to have their work completed over 2 years on from the announcement of the ACM fund. Fewer still have yet to benefit from 2020’s Building Safety Fund aimed at non-ACM buildings over 18m. Lessons must be learnt from the delivery of previous funds.
We raised these issues and others when we met with Michael Gove today prior to his annoucement. Perhaps the biggest revelation from Gove’s answers this afternoon is his confirmation that leaseholders will be given statutory protections in the Building Safety Bill to protect them from historic fire safety costs (including non-cladding related costs).
In the coming days we’ll have more time to digest the finer details of todays announcement. You can see and read our collective joint statement from the End Our Cladding Scandal campaign https://twitter.com/EOCS_Official/status/1480573821157621770
Finally, it is worth taking a moment to recognise that three years ago there was no funding available for private leaseholders in this situation at all and that getting a media outlet to cover the story was almost impossible (!). The progress that we have made in the last 3 years is down to each and every leaseholder, volunteer, campaigner, organisation and MP that have spoken out about this huge injustice we face. Together, we will succeed.
#LeaseholdersTogether