Conservative backbenchers have vowed to continue fighting on behalf of leaseholders living in buildings affected by dangerous cladding. It comes after Housing Secretary Robert Jenrickannounced a plan to tackle the scandal, nearly four years after the Grenfell Tower fire exposed the crisis.
He unveiled a £3.5 billion package to remove cladding from high-rise blocks in England but leaseholders in lower-rise buildings face bills of up to £50 a month for the removal of unsafe materials. It has angered Tory MPs who say “innocent” leaseholders should not have to pay for the crisis and warn that residents were being “bankrupted” by fire safety patrols.
Southampton MP Royston Smith told the Standard: “The thing that concerns me the most is anyone who is innocent in this whole thing shouldn’t be held responsible for it. Innocent people shouldn’t be responsible — the taxpayer and leaseholder.”
He also warned that the Government’s plan “does nothing” for other historic fire safety concerns such as wooden balconies, fire doors and insulation.
Stephen McPartland, Tory MP for Stevenage, added: “We have to be very clear that leaseholders are the innocent parties and should not have to pay for historic fire safety defects.
“Cladding is one part of fire safety, but there are many more and the costs of waking watches are bankrupting people right now.”
Elizabeth Campbell, who took over as leader of Kensington and Chelsea council in the aftermath of the Grenfell tower disaster, said the ongoing inquiry showed “clearly” there was an industry out there operation that needs to “take responsibility”.
The Conservative council leader added: “Of course more funding announced this week is good news, but the Government need to go further and faster on this. In Great Britain, in 2021, people should be safe in their homes.”
The Standard revealed this week how an estimated thousands of Londoners living in 554 blocks are still paying “eye watering” fees for waking watch fire safety patrols.
It comes as the London Assembly claimed the Government’s new £30 million waking watch relief fund will make “little difference” to spiralling costs faced by London leaseholders.
Their analysis found watches were costing residents across London £16,000 an hour.
Assembly member Andrew Dismore said: “This £30 million barely covers the cost of fire alarm installation in only a third of London’s high rises with unsafe cladding.”
A spokesman for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said their claims about the fund were “wrong” adding: “Waking watch should only be an interim measure until these buildings are made safe, which is why we’re providing £5 billion to speed up the removal of dangerous cladding on the highest risk buildings.
“We are also supporting remediation in buildings between 11-18m, ensuring no leaseholder will pay more than £50 a month as part of a new Government-backed scheme.”
