"Salford Council, our local ward councillors and MP Rebecca Long Bailey have ignored our plight, ignored fire risk assessments, ignored astronomical heating costs, ignored the effect on our mental health and left us to rot..." Malus Court tenant
Next week, a motion is being put forward to the full meeting of Salford City Council on the cladding scandal, as its four years since the Grenfell Tower tragedy in June. Within the city, the motion notes that...
"Thousands of Salford residents are still living in buildings, and that number continues to rise, including disabled people who face compounding difficulties including lack of specific support for their needs, additional financial pressures, and the potential exacerbation of health conditions...
"Thousands of private leaseholders in Salford are paying inflated insurance and service charge costs to cover the on-going costs of waking watches, often running into hundreds of pounds every month, and will soon be faced with demands for tens of thousands of pounds more to remedy the fire safety defects" it states "Moreover, they are unable even to sell or re-mortgage their defective properties because of a broken EWS1 process and mortgage lenders un-willingness to lend on them..."
The motion, to be proposed by Councillor Ann-Marie Humphreys and seconded by Salford City Mayor, Paul Dennett, adds that the City Council believes that the cladding crisis "has had and continues to have a cruel effect on Salford resident's mental health, leaving them in unsafe homes and facing life-changing bills..."*
While the motion is to be welcomed and needed for private leaseholders, it doesn't state anything about Salford social housing tenants living in the nine Pendleton blocks actually owned by Salford Council and managed by Pendleton Together, who have equally suffered for almost four years...
"Yet again, we as social housing tenants are bottom of Salford Council list" says Malus Court resident Graeme Langton who has tirelessly fought for improved fire safety conditions on the blocks, which have also seen tenants freezing as the cladding has been removed.
"We at Malus Court have been fighting for justice since Grenfell" he adds "I myself have travelled around country raising awareness of our plight including a speech in the House of Commons, and at union conferences. Salford Council, our local ward councillors and MP Rebecca Long Bailey have ignored our plight, ignored fire risk assessments, ignored astronomical heating costs, ignored the effect on our mental health and left us to rot. But they quite happy to raise the private sector issues on cladding.
"Some might say double standards, but me personally says it is discrimination to those less well off" he explains "This is why some tenants at Malus Court have taken legal action as we have been left with no choice, when those so called elected ward councillors John Warmisham, Gina Reynolds, Mayor Paul Dennett and MP Rebecca Long Bailey have left us to rot."
Indeed, part of the motion, seconded by the City Mayor, actually praises and thanks himself for "the on-going work of the Greater Manchester High-Rise Taskforce chaired by the Mayor of Salford" (point 1.6 and 3.0 see below**)
"They should do the decent thing and resign and be replaced by people who care about those in the social sector" says Graeme "They have a duty of care to the residents in Salford, not just the private sector. The Council is a joke. The company who they are taking to court for the mess we are in is still receiving Council contracts, although the Council reply to that is that the company in question has now split into two parts?
"The Malus Court Action Group has now had experts look at our plight and their reports, including fire risk, will be submitted to the barristers to move the legal action on" he concludes.
Meanwhile, Ruth London, from Fuel Poverty Action, whilst welcoming the motion for private leaseholders, also criticises the Council for ignoring social tenants...
"Great to see this motion and the demands to help leaseholders who've been going through the nightmare of flammable cladding and its slow removal from their buildings" she says, adding "It's a shame that the motion says nothing about social housing tenants, like those in Salford's Pendleton estate who have been cut off from any government funding, as victims of a PFI refurbishment.
"They have only recently had cladding removed and are now freezing without insulation on their high rise flats, and with only minimal compensation for the huge extra costs of heating" she adds "This issue affects both leaseholders and tenants and should be included in a 'Salford Ask'. Tenants, like leaseholders, should be central to developing these local demands. Many round the country, like ourselves, would then support them."
* For the full text of the cladding motion see below...
For a full background see previous Salford Star articles...
Freezing Salford Tenants Stuck In Pendleton Blocks – click here
Fuel Poverty In Pendleton 'A Matter of National Concern' – click here
Over 100 Salford Tenants To Take Pendleton Together and Salford Council To Court – click here
** Salford Council Cladding Motion to be moved by Councillor Ann-Marie Humphreys and seconded by the City Mayor....
This City Council notes that:
1.0 despite nearly four years passing since the fire at Grenfell Tower on the 14th June 2017, which tragically claimed 72 people's lives and injured more than 70 people, the fire at Grenfell Tower further uncovered the growing industrial and regulatory scandal in the built environment across England;
1.1 thousands of Salford residents are still living in buildings, and that number continues to rise, including disabled people who face compounding difficulties including lack of specific support for their needs, additional financial pressures, and the potential exacerbation of health conditions;
1.2 thousands of private leaseholders in Salford are paying inflated insurance and service charge costs to cover the on-going costs of waking watches, often running into hundreds of pounds every month, and will soon be faced with demands for tens of thousands of pounds more to remedy the fire safety defects. Moreover, they are unable even to sell or re-mortgage their defective properties because of a broken EWS1 process and mortgage lenders un-willingness to lend on them;
1.3 every year the housebuilders responsible for these defective properties bank billions in profits and pay out millions in dividends to shareholders, with The Independent also reporting back in June of last year that since Boris Johnson became Prime Minister the Conservative Party has received more than £11 million in donations from property developers[i] and The Times more recently highlighting that property developers who built flats covered in dangerous cladding have donated £2.5 million to the Conservative Party since the tragic fire at Grenfell Tower in 2017.
1.4 the Government has provided no funding to correct fire safety defects that are not related to cladding systems or in buildings less than 18 metres tall and the £15 billion expected cost of all remediations as highlighted by the Homes, Communities and Local Government Committee in summer last year, is almost three times the £5 billion designated to rectify the industrial and regulatory crisis so far.
1.5 the Government has also cut the City Council's overall core funding from central government by 53% since 2010/11, reducing the City Council's overall local authority spending power and forcing authorities to raise council tax and precepts in order to maintain vital services such as enforcing building regulations. Salford City Council alone has lost over £222 million in cuts and un-funded budget pressures since 2010/11.
1.6 the on-going work of the Greater Manchester High-Rise Taskforce chaired by the Mayor of Salford and the work of the End Our Cladding Scandal campaign, which has brought together local campaigns, including Manchester Cladiators from across the country and proposed a Ten Step action plan to support residents in Salford and address the industrial and regulatory crisis swiftly and comprehensively across the whole of England.
This City Council believes that:
2.0 the industrial and regulatory crisis is a scandal that punishes leaseholders and residents of Salford for systemic problems with building safety regulations and methods of development in England;
2.1 this has had and continues to have a cruel effect on Salford resident's mental health, leaving them in unsafe homes and facing life-changing bills;
2.2 it is grossly unjust that residents who bought homes in good faith should face remediation costs;
2.3 the Government's Building Safety Fund is inadequate both in scope and amount, failing to protect all leaseholders from costs as requirements for remediation are accelerated;
2.4 the Government must right broken promises, return to the original premise that no costs should be passed onto residents/leaseholders, abandon the loan schemes and two-tiered system for financial support recently announced by the Government, and act quickly;
2.5 a viable route to remediation is for payment nationally to fall on the building industry coupled with a 'pay now, litigate later' approach as recently developed by the Australian Labour Party State Government in Victoria;
2.6 developers who delivered dangerous and unsafe buildings due to negligence and poor workmanship should remediate this work rather than expecting residents/leaseholders to pay;
2.7 we support the End Our Cladding Scandal campaign and endorse their Ten Step action plan which recognises that the knock-on effects mean that the industrial and regulatory crisis will not be resolved building by building, leaseholder by leaseholder.
This City Council resolves to:
3.0 thank the Greater Manchester High-Rise Taskforce [chaired by the City Mayor], End Our Cladding Scandal campaign and Manchester Cladiators for their efforts in fighting this injustice, and to continue supporting them in their work and their campaigning;
3.1 continue supporting the End our Cladding Scandal campaign's 10-step plan to tackle this crisis, calling on the Government to endorse and implement 10-step plan in order to make safe all buildings - regardless of height or specific fire safety defects in order to protect residents and give them the peace of mind they are rightly entitled to;
3.2 call on the Government to provide the necessary funding in order to protect all innocent residents/leaseholders caught up in the industrial and regulatory crisis from ruinous costs that threaten bankruptcy or homelessness through a 'pay now, litigate later' approach as recently developed by the Australian Labour Party State Government in Victoria;
3.3 ask the Chief Executive of Salford City Council to write to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to ask Government to accede to those asks articulated in End our Cladding Scandal campaign's 10-step plan;
3.4 continue providing practical support to affected Salford residents/leaseholders, including asking the Planning Department to prioritise applications for fire-related remediation work, asking the Lead Members for Housing and Planning & Sustainable Development to continue to work with local groups and help affected Salford residents/leaseholders;
3.5 continue acting inclusively on this issue, including actively involving affected disabled people, raising awareness of their specific issues and campaigning;
3.6 ask the Lead Members for Housing and Planning & Sustainable Development to work alongside Salford's Members of Parliament to develop a 'Salford Ask' outlining the funding required to remediate affected buildings in our city, saving Salford residents/leaseholders from hardship, un-fair costs and worse consequences.
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