Government will fully fund replacement of dangerous cladding, says PM
Theresa May has said the UK government will fully fund the removal and replacement of dangerous cladding by councils and housing associations, which it has estimated will cost £400m.
Ms May was speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions today in response to Conservative MP Bob Blackman’s request for an update on the work of making tower blocks safe following the Grenfell Tower fire last June.
Ms May replied: “Councils and housing associations must remove dangerous cladding quickly, but paying for these works must not undermine their ability to do important maintenance and repair work.
“And I’ve worked closely with my right honourable friends the chancellor and the housing secretary, and I can today confirm that the government will fully fund the removal and replacement of dangerous cladding by councils and housing associations, estimated at £400m, and the housing secretary will set out further details later this week.”
Questions have been raised as whether the £400m figure will be enough to cover the replacement of cladding on more than 300 towers around the UK. The London Borough of Camden has said it is spending between £50m and £56m on five towers.
Up until now, only four councils out of 36 that have requested funding have had any assistance from the government.
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Gavin Smart, deputy chief executive at the Chartered Institute of Housing, said: “Following the horrendous events at Grenfell Tower we have been calling on the government to provide financial support to help landlords make sure that buildings are safe, so we welcome the prime minister’s commitment to fully fund the removal and replacement of dangerous cladding by councils and housing associations.
“It means that social landlords will be able to carry out vital safety work without undermining their existing repairs and maintenance programmes or their work to build new homes. We look forward to seeing more detail on how the funding will be allocated.”
David Orr, chief executive of the National Housing Federation, said the government is “right to take responsibility and fund this work”.
He said: “Over the last year housing associations have been doing everything in their power to remove dangerous cladding from buildings as quickly as possible, even though this has often come at a huge cost to these not-for-profit organisations.
“Safety is always the primary concern of housing associations, so this unexpected work has meant money has been directed away from other key projects for their tenants.
“We have been seeking support from government so it is very welcome news that they will fully fund the removal and replacement of dangerous cladding. We look forward to hearing more detail about how the fund will work.”
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