Grenfell: £10m Scottish Government fund opens for flammable cladding checks amid 'painfully slow' progress

The Scottish Government is “accelerating” its plans to avoid another Grenfell Tower tragedy but has been criticised for “painfully slow” progress.

Holyrood launched a £10m fund on Tuesday for people with concerns about unsafe cladding on their properties to request a building assessment.

Housing minister Paul McLennan said this open call is an “acceleration” of the Scottish Government’s efforts to strengthen building safety and ultimately avoid another Grenfell Tower tragedy.

“The fire at Grenfell Tower which resulted in the deaths of 72 people was a tragedy that should never have been able to happen,” McLennan said.

“For owners who have cladding in their homes this has been a worrying time which is why we have launched this new fund to speed up the process of assessing and replacing unsafe cladding.”

However, with the conclusion of only 13 single building assessment for properties in Scotland opposition MSPs were unimpressed with the announcement.

“Progress [in the past eight years] has been painfully slow,” Conservative MSP Meghan Gallacher (Central Scotland) said.

“Today’s announcement is a kick in the teeth to those waiting for works to be carried out to their homes.”

Gallacher said it was “frankly embarrassing” that the Scottish Government have only concluded single-building assessments for 13 properties in the eight years since the Grenfell Tower tragedy.

Labour MSP Mark Griffin (Central Scotland) added that the Scottish Government is in the “remarkable position” of having more Ministerial statements on unsafe cladding than buildings remediated.

“On behalf of all the residents still living in fear of building fires in their houses: how many buildings will be remediated by the end of this session of Parliament?” Griffin asked.

“What date is the Government setting for every building being safe from combustible cladding. Why are we so far behind the rest of the UK with remediation?”

Other MSPs were likewise critical about the pace and scale of progress.

In response, McLennan said the pace of progress “should’ve been quicker” but said the new announcement on Tuesday will quicken the pace.

People with concerns about unsafe cladding in their properties will now be able to apply to a £10 million fund to have their building assessed.

The funding will be available to owners to have relevant buildings assessed, regardless of whether the property is privately owned or social housing.

A further extension of this scheme is also planned to support mitigation and remediation works.

These initiatives, announced today by housing minister Paul McLennan, are part of a cladding remediation plan published today alongside the Scottish Government’s response to the Grenfell inquiry phase two report.