Residents living in fear of bankruptcy and fire ‘disappointed’ with new funding
Updated: 10/02/2021, 2:45 pm
Rebecca Ashwin and Jack Sandrey (Handout/PA)
Residents of buildings facing “huge” costs to fix cladding and safety issues and living in fear of bankruptcy and fire outbreaks have described new Government support measures as “disappointing”.
Labour has previously claimed up to 11 million people are at risk from life-changing costs and unsellable properties amid the UK’s cladding crisis.
On Wednesday, Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick announced a further £3.5 billion to help end the “cladding scandal”.
Residents have said they feel “trapped” and that homes are “worthless” as structural issues on buildings across the country remain unresolved in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017.
Fire at Runcorn flats adds to cladding fears of residents A small fire at a block of flats in Runcorn “could have been a lot worse” due to the building’s dangerous cladding, residents have said. One of the six blocks at The Decks was evacuated just after midday on Tuesday when a plastic tub melted onto a kitchen hob that had been accidentally left on. Firefighters reached The Decks within minutes of the alarm being sounded and were able to put the fire out before it became more serious. Nobody was harmed during the incident, but residents said the alarm had only added to their fears about living in the blocks which were deemed a fire hazard after their cladding was found to be highly flammable more than a year ago.