Government announces it will fund ACM cladding replacement
9 May 2019 (updated on 9 May 2019)
Housing Secretary, James Brokenshire, has today announced that the Government will fund the replacement of ACM cladding where building owners have failed to act.
The announced fund of £200m will be made available for the removal of unsafe ACM cladding from privately owned buildings. The spread of a catastrophic fire at Grenfell Tower in 2017 has been linked to the use of aluminium composite material (ACM) in its cladding.
Similar cladding can still be found on many tower blocks in the UK.
Speaking on behalf of the Government, James Brokenshire MP said:
"Where building owners have failed to step up, it is now imperative for the Government to act. We must ensure the long-term safety of the people living in these buildings. The Government is today therefore announcing a new fund to unblock progress in remediating private sector high-rise residential buildings […] this fund is about public safety: It will allow remediation to happen quickly, it will restore peace of mind, and it will allow residents living in these blocks to get on with their lives."
Responding for the opposition, John Healey MP said:
"Who would have thought, that after the solemn pledges made by the Prime Minister and other ministers in the aftermath of that terrible Grenfell Tower fire, that nearly two years on, still there are Grenfell residents in hotels and temporary accommodation, not in permanent homes. Still almost eight in ten blocks with Grenfell-type cladding have not had it replaced […] Still no comprehensive testing programme has been done on the estimated 1700 high-rise or high-risk buildings with dangerous non-ACM cladding."
- Watch Parliament TV: statement on buildings with ACM cladding
- Read Commons Hansard: statement on buildings with ACM cladding
Image: PA
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