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Housing minister admits progress on fixing cladding is 'glacial', seven years after Grenfell tragedy
4 September 2024, 19:06
The Housing Minister has said that the pace of remediation work on buildings with dangerous cladding has been "glacial".
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Matthew Pennycook told LBC's Tonight With Andrew Marr that he was "determined" to speed up the pace of fixing the dangerous buildings.
Many buildings with potentially dangerous cladding have not had it removed, seven years on from the deadly Grenfell fire, with the final report into the tragedy coming out on Wednesday.
Mr Pennycook said: "The pace of remediation across the country is glacial, and that must change, and we are determined to change that."
He added that removing the dangerous cladding is "a huge project" and work is underway - but must be shared between the government and private developers.
Mr Pennycook said: "I know the toll it's taken and how difficult it is on a case by case basis, building by building - I've got very many of these in my constituency.
"It will cost money. Money has already been identified and is ring fenced within government, within the building safety fund, for example.
"But some of the onus is on developers and building owners themselves to fix those buildings."
He said that the roughly 1,500 buildings covered by a developer remediation contract should be fixed by the developers themselves.
"But government does have a role to play in accelerating, and if you like, gripping a national remediation drive so things forward far faster," Mr Pennycook added.
He said that "the funding is there" and "some of that funding is being released" if there is no developer or freeholder that can step in.
"But the onus in most cases is on either the original developer or the building owner to undertake the necessary works. And we are not going to stand for those cases where those building owners could be getting on and remediating those buildings and are not doing so at pace, and I think that's what the government needs to do - step in."
It comes after Keir Starmer apologised to the families of Grenfell Tower victims on behalf of the state, telling those affected he is "deeply sorry" for failings which led to the tragedy.
Speaking from the Commons on Wednesday, the PM promised to make building safety a priority as he apologised to the families of the Grenfell Tower victims - many of whom were present in the House of Commons gallery.
"I want to start with an apology on behalf of the British State to each and every one of you and, indeed, to all of the families affected by this tragedy. It should never have happened," Starmer admitted.
Caller on the 'haunting' faults with Grenfell Tower being ignored by authorities prior to the fire
Speaking following the release of the long awaited Grenfell Inquiry report into the tragedy, the PM said the country had "failed to discharge its most fundamental duty - to protect you and your loved ones".
The PM added: "I am deeply sorry."
It follows the the final conclusion of the inquiry, which found a “culmination of decades of failures” by the government and members of the construction industry led to the disaster.
72 people were killed in the fire in London’s North Kensington in June 2017.
The long-awaited conclusion, chaired by Sir Martin Moore-Bick, found there was a “complacent and defensive attitude to fire safety” within government, with ministers repeatedly failing to act on warnings about the dangers of the flammable cladding.
