Minister for Housing, Planning and Building Safety, Lee Rowley MP, spoke at a debate on building safety enforcement on Tuesday 26th March
Speaking in the House of Commons on Tuesday, housing minister Lee Rowley MP praised the progress made in remediation works and building safety enforcement, highlighting drives such as the Cladding Safety Scheme launched last summer.
Rowley also announced an additional £6m of funding for council enforcement teams, a new legal support fund and the development of a new regulatory protocol for “greater consistency”.
Labour’s shadow minister for building safety and homelessness, Mike Amesbury MP, was critical of the minister’s statement on building safety enforcement, decrying it as “not much more than a rehashing of statistics and data points that were put in the public domain last Thursday”.
“Unacceptable” that building owners are delaying remediation works
Saying that “further transparency is also being brought to the social housing sector,” Rowley said that detailed information will be published and updated quarterly to allow residents to track progress on remediation works.
Of course, while many buildings are getting fixed or—better still—have completed remediation,” the minister continued, “there remains a reducing core of building owners who continue to hold up remediation.
“This is unacceptable.”
Grenfell-style cladding remediation works are almost complete
“From the start, we have prioritised the remediation of the highest-risk buildings,” said the minister.
“98% of high-rise buildings with the most dangerous ‘Grenfell-style’ ACM cladding have either started or completed work. Of the 10 occupied buildings remaining, 2 will start work this month and enforcement is being taken against a further 6.
“Substantial progress can also be seen for buildings over 18m – with over half of known buildings either having started or completed work.
“And, the much more extensive work required for buildings between 11 and 18 metres is now well underway.”
The housing minister called for local councils and fire and rescue services to increase their building safety enforcement efforts
“Colleagues in the Fire and Rescue Services and Local Councils are critical to the fight to ensure residents are safe and we are working with them also to increase action.
Many councils and fire and rescue services are doing a good job. Some need to do more.
“And, over the last year, the additional funding we have provided Councils with has meant that the pace of enforcement has stepped up markedly. Councils are informing us of enforcement action at a rate of 4 per week, compared to one per month in 2022, and we expect this to accelerate further.
“And to support this, today we publish our first league table outlining where enforcement is being taken so that residents can see exactly what is happening and where. We will regularly update the league table to ensure the public remain sighted on their authorities’ enforcement activity.
Our focus is now on more, and more consistent, enforcement.
The opposition decried the statement as “reactive, piecemeal announcements”
Rowley concluded: “For a task as big as this, Mr Deputy Speaker, remediation of buildings with issues was always going to take time. And there is no doubt that, in some parts of the sector, it is still taking far too long.
“Yet, already almost 60,000 homeowners have peace of mind that remediation is now complete. A further 300,000 dwellings are well on their way to doing the same.”
Shadow housing minister Mike Amesbury was clear in his response that “I do not share [the minister’s] enthusiasm that the end of the building safety crisis is somehow near… I am particularly disappointed that [the statement] does not include the second staircase guidance, which is desperately needed.
“The minister will know that the absence of that guidance has held up the construction of thousands of safe homes across the country. In London alone, the mayor has said that the botched implementation has stopped at least 38,000 homes from being built.
The shadow minister welcomed new initiatives to boost enforcement such as an enforcement league table and increased funding, but said that they would be more effective as part of a broad strategy, “instead of being reactive, piecemeal announcements. The initiatives are just a drop in the ocean of what is needed.”
“Details and a timeframe” on building control enforcement were absent
“The minister and the Government simply cannot pass the buck,” on to council enforcement teams, warned the shadow minister. “The Department needs to play a more active and robust role. I welcome the new regulatory protocol for greater consistency, but I would like to see the details and a timeframe.
“The minister rightfully calls out some owners and developers, but will he also call out the manufacturers and make all those responsible for the building safety crisis pay?”
