Lives at risk because of ‘snail-pace progress’ on cladding, ministers warned

Opposition MSPs have hit out at the Scottish Government over “delays” in tackling with potentially unsafe cladding on high rise buildings – with ministers been told that that lives are at risk as result.

Ministers came under fire as the Scottish Parliament prepares to debate new legislation aimed at dealing with potentially flammable cladding on blocks of flats on Tuesday.

But a Holyrood committee has already complained that “progress has been slow”.

The Scottish Government had introduced a cladding remediation programme in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire in London in 2017, which killed 72 people, with cladding on the high rise block said to have contributed to the spread of the blaze.

But a report by the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee last month revealed that of the 105 buildings on this programme, only one had had any remediation works carried out, with mitigation work being done at one other building.

In contrast it said that as of December 2023 in England more than two fifths of affected buildings (42%) had had work either started or completed, with 1,608 premises included in this total.

Remediation works have been completed in 797 buildings (21%) in England, the report added.

Meanwhile in Wales, Labour said progress has been “significantly faster”, saying work on 37 buildings had been completed, with work also under way on a further 86 buildings.

Commenting ahead of Tuesday’s debate on the Housing (Cladding Remediation) (Scotland) Bill, Labour housing spokesperson Mark Griffin said: “Not only are these delays seriously negligent, but they are also putting the lives of people at risk.

“On this, and so many other issues, the SNP Government are simply asleep at the wheel and the consequences for many families could be a matter of life and death.”

Mr Griffin demanded: “Will it take another Grenfell tragedy, this time in Scotland, before the SNP Government finally do their job and make these buildings safe?

“It is one thing saying that the dangerous cladding needs to go – however, the reality is that all we see is more dither and delay.”

Warning that Scotland could fall “dangerously behind the rest of the UK on making these buildings safe”, Mr Griffin insisted Holyrood ministers need to “wake up and get on with the job”.

The Labour MSP added: “Every week and month that they fail to act is more time where people are left living and working in unsafe buildings.”

With the committee report also noting that the Scottish Government had spent “less than £5 million” of the £97 million provided to it by the UK Government for cladding remediation, Conservative housing spokesman Miles Briggs hit out at the “snail-pace progress from the SNP on removing dangerous cladding from buildings across Scotland”.

The Tory branded this as “utterly inexcusable” as he said: “SNP ministers were given almost £100 million from the UK Government, but are completely failing to deliver.

“Residents in Scotland’s tower blocks need to know the SNP Government are treating this issue with the seriousness it deserves, but their shamefully low levels of spending shows that simply is not the case.

“As ministers bring forward their Cladding Remediation Bill, they must urgently explain why they have spent less than 10% of the funding they have at their disposal and guarantee that it will finally be sped up.”

Housing Minister Paul McLennan said: “The Cladding Remediation Programme is all about acting to protect lives by focusing on identifying, assessing and ensuring assessment and remediation of buildings with potentially unsafe cladding.

“We have introduced a Housing (Cladding Remediation) (Scotland) Bill to address barriers to delivery and increased the internal capacity to drive forward the Programme.

“The total level of spend on assessments, remediation and urgent interim measures on multi-occupancy residential buildings with cladding on their external walls has increased from £0.2m in 2021-22 to £7.1m at the end of Q3 2023-24.

“We are working to finalise the specification for the Single Building Assessment and the pathway for buildings into pre-assessment phase by summer 2024.”