Today the National Audit Office released a report on the urgent work needed to end the cladding scandal.
Southampton Itchen has one of the highest number of high-rise buildings with unsafe cladding in Hampshire and remediation works are underway at barely a third of them. So this report sadly isn’t a surprise to me or my constituents who are justifiably angered, worried and upset about unacceptably slow progress that has left them in limbo, unable in many cases to sell or move out.
The government’s commitment to accelerating the remediation of homes affected by unsafe cladding, backed up with £1bn of investment announced in last week’s budget, is a welcome step in the right direction and I will be meeting soon with the Housing Minister Alex Norris to discuss what more needs to be done to support my constituents in Southampton Itchen.
I trust that the government will study the recommendations of this report carefully and continue to ramp up work with local authorities and regulators. Developers must get their act together and it should be a matter of principle and fairness that leaseholders are not left out of pocket. Where works are not yet underway, residents must be told how long they need to wait until their buildings are made safe.
I have arranged to meet this week with more than 60 constituents and representatives from the Fire Service, the End our Cladding Scandal campaign and other local partners where I will have further discussions about what more we can do to end this scandal, once and for all.
