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SALFORD CITY COUNCIL COULD BE IN HUGE FINANCIAL CLADDING TROUBLE
 

Star date: 28th July 2017

GOVERNMENT REFUSES TO PAY FOR CLADDING CHAOS

Salford City Council could find itself in huge financial trouble as the Government today confirmed that it wouldn't be paying for the millions of pounds worth of mess caused by the cladding scandal.

"The Government expects that building owners will fund measures designed to make a building fire safe, and will draw on their existing resources to do so" it stated.

Full details here…

Salford City Council could find itself in massive financial trouble after the Government stated today that it won't pay for measures designed to make tower blocks safe that have been caught up in the cladding scandal.

Announcing a new independent review of building regulations and fire safety today, the Government added, almost as an afterthought, that it had "also wrote yesterday to all local authorities and housing associations to outline funding arrangements.

"The Government expects that building owners will fund measures designed to make a building fire safe, and will draw on their existing resources to do so" it stated "We will work with relevant bodies so current restrictions on the use of their financial resources do not prevent them from making essential fire safety upgrades to buildings."

At last week's full meeting of Salford Council, Finance Lead Member, Bill Hinds, explained in relation to the cladding crisis… "It is going to cost millions and millions of pounds…There is a worry where the money is going to come from... we've got a serious problem here that will go on and on and on...It's the biggest single crisis that I've ever known in that sense."*

John Warmisham, Councillor for Langworthy, which includes the nine tower blocks managed by Pendleton Together, added: "We don't know where the money is coming from to continue the work to re-clad or re-render; whatever we do is going to cost a lot of money and as a city council we don't have that sort of money."

This morning, the Salford Star reported that all nine Pendleton blocks owned by the Council had failed the latest Government fire safety tests which included the cladding and the insulation**. Altogether, the BBC was reporting, sixty buildings around the country failed the tests.

During the previous safety tests carried out by the Government, 21 blocks in Salford failed including those owned by Salix Homes and City West. It is not known whether these were included in today's failings as the Government is not identifying owners of the buildings.

If blocks owned by the two housing associations did fail the new fire safety tests, Salix and City West could also be in big financial trouble.

See also previous Salford Star articles…

** Salford Tower Blocks Fail New Government Fire Safety Tests – click here

* Salford Cladding Crisis Will Cost Millions of Pounds – click here
Michael James Felse wrote
at 19:22:17 on 30 July 2017
Mary has a point worth asking. If Fire and Rescue Services was put under the Greater Manchester new Metro Mayor job why is the Metro Mayor not making more noises about the high rises here? I believe this important problem needs an independent public inquiry and our Metro Mayor could demand one, yes?
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Rayofsunshine wrote
at 19:21:46 on 30 July 2017
@Wrote asks, "Why isn'nt Mr.Felse in Power?" 1. He's unelectable. 2.He's a serial incompetent and 3. His far riģht polítiçs.
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Mary ferrer wrote
at 08:37:00 on 30 July 2017
Who within salford council rubber stamped the cladding in the first place?? Surely checks would have been made.fire certificates would have been needed.some former of planning given.the manufactures and the company that fitted them should be the ones picking up the bill. Not the people of Salford. Do they not have some forms of insurance that would cover this total mess.
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Cladding Wonder Woman wrote
at 18:22:13 on 29 July 2017
I am now feeling like I need to bang my head against something hard. I've not lived in Salford long and I have only just started to write on the Salford Star but it would seem all my comments are being ignored. The Salford Council needed the express permission of the Salford Fire Safety Department to give the go ahead for all development or refurbishment work undertaken in Salford. It's part of the Buildings Planning Application. Who signed off all these buildings as being safe. The Fire Safety Officers and Commanaders. If the Fire Department say the new proposed Cladding Systems were within Fire Safety Regulations then the Salford Council nor any other landlord would have known better. It is obvious on completion of all the refurbishments, not just the 9 Pendleton Blocks, the Salford Fire Service overlooked the dangers of the new cladding systems. So this had nothing to do with government cuts or lack of money, this was caused by the ineptitude of the Architect, Salford Planning Department, and the lack of Building Fire Safety Knowledge and experience of our local Fire Services.
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Retired Socailist wrote
at 11:02:25 on 29 July 2017
Confused of salford wrote. Who owns what would be a good place to start? the council, Keep moat, Pendleton together I am lost all ready I thought this was a partnership hmm. All these lovely houses that Salford Labour put out who paid for what? I read it was a PFI huge sums Millions alone on the Tower blocks, if we are responsible for the blocks still does that mean we put in planning applications for housebuilding and refurbishment from the council in the hope of being passed by the council? I mean who passed this shoddy panels in the first place who acquired the PFI Who sits on the board as directors? still confuse HELP!!!!
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George in Labour wrote
at 11:02:17 on 29 July 2017
Agreeing with @wrote why is Mr Felse not on our Salford Council? Never been his supporter but do Councils still have power to co-opt? (appoint to membership of a committee). Dennett should co-opt Mr Felse to sort out this bloody mess publicly.
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life is loud wrote
at 07:26:46 on 29 July 2017
Its the suppliers of the material who should be coughing up for using the wrong material in the first place.
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down but not out wrote
at 07:26:23 on 29 July 2017
This is so wrong. It is because the Government has made so many cuts to local Authorities that they have had to buy cheaper cladding and make cuts across the board. Shake that money tree that you keep growing and pass on the benefits to all the local Authorities you have taken money from. This is people's lives we are taking about. It's very annoying but obvious that most of this cladding has been used in towns where working class people live which only goes to show how low in the pecking order poorer people are in this Country. We send money over to the USA to monitor the flatulence of cattle, it says it all doesn't it!!
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tom nolan wrote
at 07:26:18 on 29 July 2017
all council and salix personal that rubber stamped the cladding need to be suspended from duty investigated for corruption and then sacked ..this fire risk has been recorded since late 70s and with many people losing there lives due to this cladding type of fire from Glasgow to France Australia. And more. Dereliction of duty of care and safety , let alone the millions of pounds of tax payers monies lost to this fiasco. Ignorance is no form of defence wen all the evidence has been reported for decades. And even tho regulations were toned down to allow the cheap installation of this cladding system they must have known or investigated the fire risk 1st ..a Salix spokesperson told me on the fone they kept to all guide lies of safety wen they ordered the cladding.. and now all the mess of replacing it ..
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bit nervous wrote
at 07:25:53 on 29 July 2017
All these things about these high rise blocks and the arena bomb have left me unable to sleep at night. I don,t live in a high rise but near a couple of them. My daughter was at the arena only 3days before on the friday. I went to the doctors about this anxiety and sleeplessness and they said they had a lot of other people with the same symptoms and cause. Not much they can do but offer anti depressants which i did not want. others who live in these death traps may well be suffering as well and i urge them to seek help.Although there is little in the way of treatment that can be offered, its good to get these detriments to mental health reported. in my field of work i came accross a solicitor the other day. we got talking about things in general, and i mentioned that i thought people who lived in these blocks should be compensated, as your previous letter below suggests.he said it could be possible that the people in these blocks,if their mental health had suffered, could indeed make a claim. i hope they do, they must feel much much worse than i do, especially the people who have a nervous disposition already. before they can make a claim, they have to get their medical problems seen to. Mr felse is right, why should these people pay out whist they suffer. I wish all my fellow Salford citizens well.
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wrote
at 07:25:25 on 29 July 2017
MJFelse is wasted in these comment sections. Why isn't he in office then he can put all his ideas into practice.
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hedley hopper wrote
at 07:24:56 on 29 July 2017
@ MJF - in total agreement regarding surcharging; that measure should always be at the forethought of our elected councillors, preventing rash and unconsidered decisions, etc. On the one hand, I thought that the towers blocks had been become the responsibility of the "arms length" TMOs/housing associations etc, so can their management boards be surcharged? But on the other hand, if the management boards of the TMOs comprise a number of councillors et al, does that insulate (no pun intended) them from the risk of surcharging? Anything done on the cheap is expensive in the long run. Some sources have indicated that less expensive options were decided upon after decisions were taken to clad the blocks. So who is responsible and who is accountable? Who carries the can? Is it the Councillors for failing to oversee the terms of the contracts? Is it the Council Officers for being technically unqualified to understand changes and implications of the cladding used? Or can both say that they are neither accountable or responsible as all the blocks are managed by "arms length" organisations????
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Michael James Felse wrote
at 19:18:04 on 28 July 2017
I demand a public inquiry into this Salford problem to include it looking to see if Salford Councillors should be surcharged for the millions of pounds in corrective action this is going to cost. Also for at risk tenants to be given free rent until their home is made safe. Salford Council must be challenged by those affected. If any Councillors have any information they must make the facts public without delay.
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