The Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Michael Gove said today in parliament that he was asking house builders to voluntarily contribute to a £4 billion fund to remediate the problems caused to leaseholders in flats from 11-18m who are caught up in removing ineffective cladding from their blocks.
It was a complete change from the attitude taken by his predecessors and was broadly welcomed by activist groups of leaseholders from End Our Cladding Scandal to Manchester Cladiators. However though the news was a good start there are still other outstanding issues that need to be addressed at the same time regarding general fire safety in many apartment complexes.
A lot has been written today on the subject and you can find some quick links here:
- UK Government Press Release: Government forces developers to fix cladding crisis 10.01.22
- FT: Developers resist Gove plans to meet bill to fix cladding crisis 10.01.22
- The Guardian: ‘We are coming for you’ Michael Gove warns builders 10.01.22
- The Spectator: Gove’s cladding fix doesn’t go far enough 10.01.22
- Sky News: Cladding scandal: Housing Secretary issues warning to developers 10.01.22
- The Times: Cladding rules: Flat-owners won’t pay to fix fire safety issues 10.01.22
- Evening Standard: £1bn wiped off FTSE house builders as Gove hits them with cladding bill 10.01.22
- Manchester World: Cladding: Gove’s measure are welcome – but still leave outstanding issues 10.01.22
- Inside Housing: Gove’s building safety plan 10.01.22
- Inside Housing: The latest grand plan for building safety crisis contains some major holes 11.01.22
- The Echo: Residents who were sold a dream now ‘trapped’ in homes with 1p 16.01.22
In the Oxford University sponsored ‘Housing after Grenfell’ blog there are a number of excellent articles including this one from Dr Jenny Preece from Sheffield University on 19.12.21 Leaseholders living through the building safety crisis which makes for excellent reading about the impact of the crisis on the lives of ordinary leaseholders.
Please let us know if there are other articles you think we should signpost at Engage: chair@engageliverpool.com