What the political manifestos say about cladding in the first election since Grenfell

[HeIenaDove]

www.itv.com/news/london/2019-11-26/grenfell-tower-fire-what-do-the-political-manifestos-say-about-cladding/

ITV REPORT 26 November 2019 at 5:29pm
Grenfell Tower Fire: What do the political manifestos say about cladding?
By Rags Martel: ITV News reporter

From Grenfell day one it was clear - flammable cladding spread the fire. Two-and-a-half years on flammable material is still on hundreds of tower blocks

You would think the deaths of 72 people would turn it into a major political issue.

But the removal of flammable cladding is rarely discussed on the election trail and has yet to come up in any of the leaders debates.

So what do the political manifestos say about cladding

The Conservatives promise to implement recommendations of the Grenfell inquiry, and, some what bafflingly, say they will remove unsafe cladding.

To be clear the Tories have failed to do this so far. Removal of this deadly cladding is desperately slow. 30 months after the fire, 318 high-rise buildings are still covered in Grenfell-style cladding in the UK, according to the government latest figures.

The Conservative manifesto goes on to say it'll "support residents with the removal of unsafe cladding".

For Ritu Saha this line form the manifesto is almost laughable. She lives in Northpoint, Bromley, south-east London

Her building is deemed so dangerous, it needs a 24-hour Waking Watch to keep its residents safe.

But as months, and now years pass, its expensive and not solving the problem

magine having to live and sleep in an home that's effectively covered in petrol", says Saha.

Frustrated with the government's inaction, Saha helped form the UK Cladding Action Group.

"Many of us cannot find hundreds of thousands of pounds to make our home safe. Some of us fear we could become homeless. This thought is in our minds every single day", says Saha.

Peter Apps is Deputy Editor of Inside Housing. The magazine has joined forces with the UK Cladding Action Group to end, what they call, 'Britain's cladding scandal'.

The Tory manifesto promise on cladding was essentially more of the same", says Apps. "They say they're going to support the residents of high rise buildings, but they have not announced any new money or ideas to how to get flammable cladding off.

– PETER APPS, INSIDE HOUSING
As part of Labour's £1 billion 'Fire Safety Fund', the party is promising to fit sprinklers to every tower block. They too talk of magically removing unsafe cladding.

For a long time Labour has been talking about forcing building owners to do the removal work. But in practice this is difficult and complicated, and how to do it is not answered in the Labour manifesto.

– PETER APPS, INSIDE HOUSING
In their manifesto, the Liberal Democrats simply call for "safer homes" but there is no mention of cladding or Grenfell

This is hugely surprising. This is the first General Election since Grenfell and there's a crisis with dangerous high-rise buildings. Any party that wants to be part of the next government, needs to have some idea of how to address this issues.

– PETER APPS, INSIDE HOUSING
But the cladding problem is bigger than first thought. The fire in Barking in June earlier this year showed that timber cladding was dangerous. And this month, the student flats in Bolton, had a different form of flammable cladding to the ACM-type at Grenfell.

Probe launched into Bolton student flats fire which spread 'extremely rapidly'
There are 100,000 buildings around the country which slip below the arbitrary cut-off of 18 meters, of which the Cube in Bolton is just one.

And there are lots of other types of material which are just as dangerous as ACM cladding, not least timber.

No one is even thinking about identifying these buildings, let alone making them safe.

– PETER APPS, INSIDE HOUSING
Last updated Tue 26 Nov 2019

No one is even thinking about identifying these buildings, let alone making them safe.

That's not true is it, local authorities have identified the buildings and where possible have started reparatory work. Labour has a plan for giving funding to local authorities to replace the dangerous cladding. I'm hoping they'll also reimburse the councils that have already done the work and got into debt as a result.

A good use of government funds would be to fund a test case on liability for the cladding in private blocks. I'm only aware of cases to date at the leasehold valuation tribunal, and I don't believe the LVT is adequately equipped to deal with the issue. Plus a case would need to go to a higher court in order to set precedent.

Would the governments response to Grenfell Tower have been more proactive if demographics had been different ?
This whole case along with the treatment of the windrush generation makes me sick to the stomach
I agree more should be debated in the election it goes to the heart of the kind of country we want our children to grow up in

www.insidehousing.co.uk/comment/housing-has-clearly-moved-down-the-conservatives-list-of-priorities-64280

Inside Housing
@insidehousing
“There are no new commitments on fire safety and nothing to address the huge issues facing residents of buildings with non-ACM cladding.”
@Jules_birch
critiques the
@Conservatives
manifesto

www.insidehousing.co.uk/insight/insight/the-cladding-scandal-is-far-from-over--heres-why-we-need-a-fresh-approach-64189

No one is even thinking about identifying these buildings, let alone making them safe. That refers to other building materials. All of the cladding has been identified, I thought. Has round here, we had a news report on it!

This always happens when building regs are updated. They aren't always reptrospective. There will always be a time lag. That's quite different to the scandal of the unift materials used at Grenfell and other buildings!

HeIenaDove Wed 04-Dec-19 17:53:19
www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/03/fires-grenfell-towers-combustible-cladding?fbclid=IwAR2uHUG_oUjKEAPmtWCbkB8bRoBphOHSS_TvnQnpVWZ3ys2LA8L39HQxWsg

There will be more fires like Grenfell, and lives will be lost
Sandra Ruiz
Warnings before the tragedy were ignored. Two years on, a lack of action means thousands still live in towers with combustible cladding

• Sandra Ruiz is a member of the Grenfell United action group

The smell was the same – that acrid, burning smell. As we walked towards the burnt-out wreckage of The Cube in Bolton, it took me straight back to Grenfell Tower the morning after the fire that killed my niece and 71 others.

To avoid blazes like Bolton's, we must radically overhaul student housing
Eva Crossan Jory
Read more
Two and a half years since Grenfell, it is a silent scandal how little has changed. The images of the cladding crackling and dripping from the Bolton student block is a shameful reminder that thousands of homes are still not safe. There have been eight significant residential fires since Grenfell. And today tens of thousands of people are still living in buildings wrapped in dangerous combustible materials. It’s on our homes, our hospitals, our care homes and our schools.

It still keeps me awake at night worrying that what happened to my family could happen to another. That’s why Grenfell United, the pressure group for survivors and the bereaved, has written a letter to party leaders that we never wanted to write. We have told them that unless action is taken it is our firm belief that a serious fire in the UK will occur in a building wrapped in combustible materials, leading to loss of life.

Edward Daffarn, also a Grenfell United member, made a similarly stark warning on his co-authored Grenfell Action blog six months before the fire. It was not listened to. This time I pray our words will not be ignored.

We are still fighting the indifference that led to the Grenfell tragedy For the past two years we’ve heard from successive government ministers that local authorities should step in, or building owners or developers. All this means is that little gets done, and that residents remain living in fear
The truth is that residents are in far greater danger than the government has wanted to admit. It’s not just about the type of cladding that was on Grenfell: other types are dangerous too. Focus has been on buildings over 18 metres high, but that height is arbitrary. The Cube was just under 18 metres. Addressing the problem starts with being honest about how many buildings are affected, and so far the government hasn’t even been able to do that.

But there is a way forward. Residents’ groups, including UK Cladding Action Group and Manchester Cladiators, point to lessons from Australia. When there was a cladding fire in Melbourne, the government took control, set up a national taskforce, prioritised every building at risk, and has even brought in a new development levy so the construction industry bears some of the costs. None of these things have happened in Britain.

If the government’s main job is to keep citizens safe, taking responsibility for the cladding scandal must be top of the list. That another Grenfell could happen under the next government should keep any prime minister awake at night.

We were made many promises in the aftermath of Grenfell. The most important promise is that we will see justice. Seeing the Hillsborough families devastatingly let down by the criminal justice system last week, we are all too aware of the long journey to justice ahead of us and the flawed system we face. The Hillsborough families have fought with incredible dignity, courage and determination for more than three decades. We walk in their footsteps.

Justice for Grenfell can come in three ways: through the inquiry seeking the truth; through the criminal prosecutions seeking charges; or through change led by the government. We have already waited for two and a half years with countless undelivered promises. It’s time for justice to start

A new government must lead the change. There are many wrongs to right from Grenfell but they all start with listening to residents and making sure warnings are not ignored. It means ending this culture of indifference and complacency

Next year my twin girls will apply to university. When I pack them off, I want to know they will be safe in their halls. I want to know that people across the country are safe – because residents have been listened to and our warnings heeded. I want to know I will never again smell the acrid burning of toxic materials.

We owe it to the 72 people who died in the Grenfell fire to make sure it never happens again.

• Sandra Ruiz is a member of the Grenfell United action group

www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/election-row-salford-after-tory-17363319

Election row in Salford after Tory candidate's 'astonishing' video blaming Labour for dangerous cladding
For two and a half years residents have waited for cladding to be removed

Tory candidate has triggered a furious pre-election row in Salford by blaming the local council for failing to remove dangerous cladding from tower blocks.

Conservative, Attika Choudhary, who is standing for the Salford and Eccles seat, posted a video on social media taken outside Malus Court
But Salford's Labour deputy mayor, John Merry, dismissed her allegations as "astonishing" and a "despicable" smear.

The block is one of nine in Pendleton where residents have been waiting two and a half years for the Grenfell-style cladding to be removed.

The homes have been at the centre of controversy as the government prevented Salford council from spending money to finance the work

The cladding contains aluminium composite material - similar to that used in Grenfell Tower in London

The housing company which manages the blocks has not received a penny of the £400m Whitehall cash earmarked to fund the removal of the unsafe material.

The government will not fund the private finance initiative company that runs the blocks on behalf of the council - Pendleton Together Operating Limited.

The nine blocks were refurbished as part of £650m private finance initiative to refurbish 1,250 homes in the area.

Pendleton Together has now had to take out loans to finance the work. Last month portions of cladding was removed from two of the blocks but only for potential contractors to do an assessment.

On Twitter, Ms Choudhary, who is from Aldershot, and a BBC radio journalist, posted: "At Malus Court with Graeme a resident here who tells Attika about the cladding issues facing Salford & Eccles. Labour MP Rebecca Long-Bailey said this was a government issue when in fact the local authorities have ignored this for years."

She is filmed with a local resident who says they get "the same excuses week after week" from the Labour council who say it is a government problem when residents in other blocks in Eccles have had a similar issue resolved.

The resident says "ward councillors refuse to come and meet us", adding "we have not seen them, they will not speak to us"

The resident says that as well as the cladding not being replaced fire doors in the block are "unfit for use".

He adds: "So not only if there is a fire will the cladding kill us but the smoke will kill us because the fire doors are unfit for use."

Councillor Merry, said: "I have some advice for the Salford Conservatives. When you parachute a candidate into a constituency, make sure they check their facts before making astonishing allegations.

"The Conservatives have blocked every effort made by this council to remove and replace cladding in Pendleton, leaving us with no options left on the table other than to wait for private finance.

"When we were one of the first councils to offer to borrow £25m to immediately remove and replace the cladding, government told us we weren't allowed to lend to a PFI.

He said: "The smears Atikka is spreading are completely foundless, irresponsible and frankly despicable. Labour councillors and council officers have been working tirelessly with residents and the council has spent millions on waking watches, fiure safety checks, and £3.6m on new sprinkler systems

If she had the slightest interest in Salford, she would have joined with us in condemning the actions of the government in denying funding to Salford.

"I suspect that once she has lost the election her interest in our city will disappear completely"

.

www.independent.co.uk/voices/election-tory-grenfrell-tower-fire-boris-johnson-a9242341.html

"Grenfell should have been central to this election, the government’s deficient response to the dozens of lives lost reflects their attitude to many areas of social care.

I lost my cousin Mary Mendy and her daughter Khadija Saye in the Grenfell Tower fire. What followed was a litany of institutional failures by the Conservative government and local council. Instead of grieving our loss, my family have had to fight for justice. The lessons have not been learnt. Potentially dangerous cladding is still on buildings. The Bolton fire at a student tower block last month likely should not have happened.

Rehousing Grenfell residents has been torturously slow and the inquiry is still ongoing, meaning we are without justice or closure. This last few years since the fire have been a living hell. Leading Conservative Jacob Rees-Mogg’s callous remarks suggest that residents lacked the common sense to leave the building. My relatives made it to the stairway. If Rees-Mogg had met with us he would know how incorrect, wrong and painful his comments are. My calls on the Conservative Party to remove him as a candidate and for him personally to meet with me to explain himself, have been ignored.

The Conservatives seem more comfortable talking to the media about Grenfell, than talking to people like me who have been deeply affected.

Rees-Mogg has kept a low-profile since his shameful comments. His words give an insight into how I feel my family were treated, as second class citizens. Austerity, social housing and cuts on fire safety impacted with devastating consequences at Grenfell. The Conservative government failed me and my family

This includes Sam Gyimah, who was universities minister until his resignation in November last year, and who later defected to the Liberal Democrats after losing the Conservative whip. He gave assurances that cladding on student tower blocks was being investigated and that steps were being taken. However, the Bolton fire proves otherwise.

If the issues that arise from the Grenfell catastrophe were prioritised during this election, Gyimah, now standing as a Lib Dem candidate in the very London borough where Grenfell happened, would never have been put forward as a candidate in the area.

This is an election like no other. Justice for bereaved families and residents of Grenfell should be front and centre. There are wider lessons relating to austerity and the disregard for disadvantaged communities which meant flammable cladding was, and still is, on tower blocks, which means another Grenfell could happen.

This is why I shudder at the thought of the Conservatives being elected again, given their treatment of me and my family. The Liberal Democrats did not mention either Grenfell or cladding in their manifesto. So neither they or the Conservatives give me confidence. Their record in coalition together and as parties, right up to this election, is woefully inadequate. Labour’s Emma Dent Coad was only in office for less than a week as the local MP when the Grenfell Tower catastrophe happened. She has been a constant ally in my fight for justice in parliament and beyond. This is in contrast to the Conservative-run local council that I have had to personally confront over their failings despite ill health.

The council should have been taken into special measures in the wake of the fire. I believe the council failed to listen to residents before the fire, it was “missing in action” during the fire and it continued to fail them afterwards. The council have not yet consulted with me regarding their recovery strategy or programme, even though I am a bereaved family member and a core participant in the public inquiry

The council also stopped holding Grenfell scrutiny committees which were supposed to keep it accountable to the community. After the tragedy, it was exposed for still failing on basic fire safety in social housing in the area. Nine households of former residents affected as of this October, were still without permanent homes more than two years after the catastrophe. The government has failed to retrofit fire sprinklers in tower blocks or remove flammable cladding which is still on buildings. Jeremy Corbyn’s response in the wake of the tragedy was genuine and considerate, in complete contrast to then prime minister Theresa May, who was criticised for not meeting with those who were affected soon enough.

The government’s legacy over Grenfell is characterised by a long list of failures. Unless this changes and the ongoing demands for fire safety are addressed, another fire could happen. Over two years on, I believe only a change of government can make the difference that is so desperately needed"

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/14/grenfell-tory-mp-kensington-tower-tragedy

After Grenfell, a Tory MP for Kensington is a bitter pill
Seraphima Kennedy

It is a bitter pill for the community in Kensington North to swallow. This morning, almost 30 months since the fatal fire at that killed 54 adults and 18 children, the general election returned a Conservative MP, Felicity Buchan, by just 150 votes. Buchan beat the incumbent, Emma Dent-Coad (who was herself elected with only a slim margin of 20 votes back in 2017, just days before the Grenfell Tower fire).

The residents of Kensington, whose council is still under investigation for corporate manslaughter, now have an MP from the party that rejected the recommendations that could have prevented Grenfell. That same party has also failed to get to grips with the scale of the cladding scandal since the fire. If anything, progress is going backwards: thousands remain in unsafe homes, and new figures released today show an increase in the number of tower blocks with Grenfell-style cladding.

Sam Gyimah was parachuted in but ran a tone-deaf campaign, delivering generic leaflets to still traumatised people
It is hard to see how such a candidate could be returned in a borough where 72 people died so recently, after their concerns about the building were repeatedly ignored. Blame for today’s result was levelled at an aggressive campaign by the Liberal Democrats, fielding newly converted Sam Gyimah, who had little to do with either Grenfell or Kensington before the election was called. Gyimah was parachuted in but ran a tone-deaf campaign, delivering generic leaflets to homes in north Kensington still traumatised by the fire and its aftermath
His campaign literature did not reference Grenfell or the long-term recovery plan, leading to strong criticism from residents. Instead, the campaign stuck to issues the Lib Dems thought would appeal to remain voters: Brexit, schools, the NHS. This was not so much an oversight as a catastrophic slap in the face for a community still working to rebuild. Gyimah himself repeated unfounded accusations about Dent-Coad’s role in the refurbishment at Grenfell, leading to an official complaint, and failed to understand the lived experience of the constituents he was trying to win over.
A swing of 9% to the Lib Dems in this strongly remain borough gave Gyimah more than 9,000 votes, splitting the vote. There were cries of “shame” as the results were announced early this morning – a far cry from the jubilant scenes that greeted Dent-Coad’s election in early June 2017, two weeks before the fire. With a Conservative MP now elected, there is significant concern about whether promised change in the borough will be delivered. This is a grave disservice to a community who has worked day and night to rebuild.

Outside of the north of Kensington, Buchan’s election is a devastating blow for families like mine, who rely on local services and have never felt represented in this borough. Overcrowding, lack of truly affordable housing, poor repairs, and cuts to schools, mental health facilities and other services have made many residents feel as though the change promised after Grenfell has not come.

In the summer of 2019, the government’s own Grenfell Independent Taskforce delivered its fourth report into the extent of changes happening at the council. It stated: “There is a strategic failure to present a coherent narrative on recovery and the progress and outcomes that have or will be delivered. This means that it is difficult for us, never mind the bereaved, survivors and wider community, to see whether the council is really delivering or not.” It also commented that some behaviours in public meetings from elected members were “unedifying”. This is the council, this is the culture.

If Buchan wants to last in Kensington, she will need to quickly familiarise herself with the commitments already given by council leaders, study the work set out in the Independent Taskforce reports, and deliver on promised change. The government itself has immediate work to do: it needs to get a grip on the remediation programme, make homes safe, and deliver on the recommendations in the Grenfell Inquiry Phase 1 report. Otherwise, the odds seem stacked against a community that has poured so much energy into the rebuild effort.

The residents of north Kensington need justice for their community. The bereaved and survivors continue to campaign for better services. They were ignored before the fire, and no matter what party their MP belongs to, their voices must be heard now. They have been promised change: that change must come.

• Seraphima Kennedy is a writer and academic researcher"