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Combustible cladding: protesters call on Boris Johnson to end crisis


Owners of high-rise apartments wrapped in combustible cladding have demonstrated in Westminster to demand Boris Johnson release billions of pounds to end a national fire safety crisis that continues nearly 1,000 days after the Grenfell Tower disaster.

Families with young children, retirees and working couples from tower blocks in Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Southampton and Ipswich were among more than 100 residents who travelled to London to rally on Tuesday for an end to their “living nightmare” by announcing a bailout in next month’s budget.

More than 500,000 leaseholders are estimated to be living in towers wrapped in combustible cladding that freeholders and developers are refusing to fix, arguing it is not their responsibility. Leaseholders are often unable to sell and face soaring costs for mortgages, insurance and interim fire safety measures. Some have put off having children and others have described bouts of depression and suicidal feelings, with bankruptcy a real possibility.

The rally was led by Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, where at least 57 high-rise apartment blocks feature combustible cladding that breaches building regulations. Across England, more than 1,500 private apartment blocks are believed to be affected. Burnham has led calls for the prime minister to authorise a bailout saying the lives of hundreds of thousands of people are being “utterly ruined”.

“The government hasn’t faced up to the full scale of the cladding crisis,” he said. “The message we have to send out today is to stop gambling with peoples’ safety.”

It is estimated the bill to remove combustible cladding on private apartment blocks could exceed £2bn. The Treasury has already released £200m to fix private blocks wrapped in the specific type of aluminium composite material cladding (ACM) that spread the fire at Grenfell, claiming 72 lives.

However, it has not made any money available for the removal of other combustible materials including wood and high pressure laminates (HPL). The government’s strategy has been to try to persuade freeholders and developers to pay, but with little success. On Monday the housing secretary, Robert Jenrick, “named and shamed” five freehold companies that he said had failed to provide a plan to remove unsafe ACM cladding.

But pointing at the Palace of Westminster, which is undergoing a £4bn refurbishment, Burnham said: “It’s funny in this country how we can always find money for some things but not for others.” He said the government should pay for safety works and then demand that owners and developers meet their share of the costs.

Many campaigners say the burden should be shared because the state oversaw the building regulations, and freeholders and developers chose the combustible materials.

“This is about our homes and our lives,” said Rituparna Saha, a leaseholder at Northpoint in Bromley, south-east London, that is clad in ACM and HPL. “Homes that we have worked very, very hard to buy and which we thought were safe … We are being forced to pay both mentally and financially even though we are the innocent party in all of this.”

Victoria Lowe, a mother of two young children who lives in a shared ownership flat in Lewisham, south London that is wrapped in HPL, cried as she described her situation.

Victoria Lowe and her partner, Ryan Bennett, with their 11-month-old baby at  protest in London



Victoria Lowe and her partner, Ryan Bennett, with their 11-month-old baby at the protest in London. Photograph: Rob Booth/The Guardian

She and her partner, Ryan Bennett, have been trying to sell their top-floor flat for two years, but it is virtually worthless because of the cladding. Any time she smells burning from cooking she “freaks out”.

“It’s completely depressing,” she said. “When I realised, I sat down and cried for the weekend. It is so frustrating when you have done everything asked [to get a flat]. It is a national scandal.”

Fran Reddington, a leaseholder who founded the Manchester Cladiators campaign group, told the rally: “I can’t put into words what the mental health impact has been … We are now calling on government to release a fund, release this burden from the leaseholders. We could see another tragedy. Fire does not wait for politics to play out.”

Hilary Benn, the Labour MP for Leeds Central, read out an email he received recently from a constituent trapped in a dangerous flat.

“All my savings and earnings have gone into this property,” he said. “I feel sick. I wake up every morning and feel a wave of anxiety. I have cried more in the last three months than I have in my entire life. Who would have thought that a feeling of being proud and successful could have turned into a feeling of hopelessness.”

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing said: “The government has taken urgent action on building safety, including committing £600m for remediating high-rise buildings with unsafe ACM cladding in the social and private sectors. Residents’ safety remains our utmost priority and there is no excuse for building owners not ensuring that residents are safe in their homes.

“We will continue to support leaseholders and are reviewing options on how best to do so.”



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