The Chancellor has unveiled a £1bn building safety fund to remove dangerous cladding to stop a repeat of the Grenfell Tower tragedy.
The government had previously announced money to remove aluminium composite material - the type of cladding covering the block in West London - but has now extended it to all dangerous cladding.
In 2018 they pledged £400m for social housing and £200m for the private sector in 2019.
But today Rishi Sunak said that a new fund would be established that “goes beyond” aluminium composite material (ACM) cladding and is available for all private and social sector buildings taller than 18m.
It is unclear whether to money announced today is in addition to the £600m already pledged or just a £400m top up.
With the total funding costs for removal work expected to easily top £10bn in the social housing sector alone, experts say the fund falls far below what is needed.
Shadow Housing Secretary John Healey welcomed the fund but said that the government still had more to do to make sure the public are safe.
Mr Healey said: "On cladding - new money for fire safety fund is welcome and we will look closely at detail, but already clear more needed: nothing on sprinklers and no measures to stop private block owners dragging their heels and force them to do this work."
William Martin lives in Metis Building in Sheffield, which has ACM cladding, the same material that was on Grenfell Tower.Residents from that block said in a statement: “We welcome and thank the Chancellor for factoring in the cladding scandal into his budget - a nightmare endured by over half a million British people across the country for far too long.
“We look forward to hearing in more detail how this money is to be spent and do hope as stated that it covers all types of cladding and fire safety defects; notedly the announcement does not address what will now happen for buildings under 18m.
“This crisis was avoidable and has caused an insurmountable amount of stress and anguish for many people. The Government always said the original ACM fund was created to quicken the pace of remediation works - but to date only a handful of eligible buildings have been fully approved for funding.
“We can only hope the mistakes of the ACM fund are not now replicated across non-ACM buildings and that the pace of remediation works does indeed now quicken.
“We want to be clear, this is a welcomed step. It shows that the Government has finally conceded that fire does not distinguish between different types of dangerous materials and sets a clear precedent for the future.”
Jennifer Reid, 38, bought her flat in the Islington Gates, Birmingham, last year – and was told by a property management agency five weeks ago she was living in a building with flammable timber cladding.
She said: “This is a welcome increase of the fund to remove unsafe cladding, and we thank the many residents groups, affected leaseholders, media and local MPs who helped to raise the profile of this issue in the run up to the budget.
“We now need the government to expedite the payments to affected buildings. We also need them to review their policies for buildings under 18 metres, and other fire safety issues, such as missing fire stops, which have been highlighted post Grenfell.”
Announcing the measure, Mr Sunak said: “Two-and-a-half years on, we’re still grappling with the tragic legacy of Grenfell. Last year we announced £600m to remove aluminium composite material, or ACM, from high rises.
“Today I go further. Expert advice is clear that new public funding must concentrate on removing unsafe materials from high-rise residential buildings. So today I am creating a new Building Safety Fund worth £1bn.
“That’s what the experts have called for, that’s what the select committee has called for, that’s even what the opposition has called for.
“That new fund will go beyond dealing with ACM to make sure that all unsafe combustible cladding will be removed from every private and social residential building above 18m.”
Labour MP David Lammy , who lost a friend in the Grenfell fire, said that the funding was long overdue.
He tweeted: "Pleased to see a new £1bn building safety fund for removing combustible cladding, in the wake of Grenfell. But this should never have taken so many years, and there is more to do to make people safe."
