A building safety campaigner has branded the Government’s 2029 deadline for cladding removal “essentially meaningless”.
Giles Grover, from the End Our Cladding Scandal campaign group, told MPs he is “not at all confident” that the action plan for England, revealed in December, will deliver for residents.
Labour unveiled its Remediation Acceleration Plan last year, pledging that, by the end of 2029, all buildings more than 59ft (18m) tall with unsafe cladding that are on a Government scheme will have been remediated.
For buildings over 11 metres with unsafe cladding, within the same timeframe those will either have been remediated, have a date for completion, or the landlords will be liable for severe penalties.
The Government warned building owners who fail to remove dangerous cladding “we are after them” and said they could face jail.
But they also acknowledged there could be up to 7,000 buildings with dangerous materials which have not yet been identified, while progress on remediation work on high-rises with known issues has been too slow.
Giving evidence to the Public Accounts Committee on Monday, Mr Grover was asked about his confidence in the remediation action plan.
He told the committee: “I’m not at all confident, to be blunt. I’m sure officials are patting themselves on the back for announcing a target date of 2029.
“That’s still five years, five long years away. It’s only for some buildings, the high rise buildings that are in grant funding schemes that were first known in 2020.
“I think the target date is essentially meaningless to most people, really. People really want to know for their homes, whatever height it is, when it will be made safe.
“And just simply having a high-level date of 2029 for some buildings just won’t mean anything.”
He said there remain “too many issues… too many barriers”, citing an inconsistency in risk assessments, issues around non-cladding defects, shared owners, and a case-by-case approach to buildings lower than 11 metres in height which he said “has failed”.
He said: “I don’t know how I can be confident in a plan when the actual issues and the barriers to remediation haven’t been addressed.”
The Government’s latest official figures showed that, as of the end of December, less than half – 48% or 2,403 – of the 5,011 buildings of 11 metres or higher identified with unsafe cladding in England had either started or completed remediation works.
Mr Grover said: “We’ve got a lot of buildings that have been moved from one list to ‘completed’ when they’ve still got issues. I know plenty of those.”
The campaigner, who became involved in speaking out on building safety issues when he was told his home was unsafe in 2017 after the Grenfell Tower fire, said there needs to be more “visible oversight and grip” of what is happening on the ground.
This includes whether building owners are signed up to the code of practice – which sets out expectations of those undertaking and managing remediation projects – and whether they are adhering to it.
He said: “Leaseholders and residents are facing all these struggles, are facing these troubles, have nowhere to turn to, they’re not really getting any answers.
“But all we hear from the Government, industry, housing associations, everyone is, ‘We’re abiding by it. I understand we are. I think we are. We probably are. So, let me just check’. Whereas actually on the ground, no.
“The amount of buildings where the scaffolding just goes up, and that’s the first thing you know about it, or monoflex (sheeting) goes up, that you can’t see through.
“So we really need to understand whether they’re all abiding by it, but someone needs to actually be overseeing that and making sure it happens. Sorry, I’m a bit angry about this.”
Sarah Healey, permanent secretary at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), said ministers “are very committed to speeding up the pace of remediation”.
