By Matt Rodda, MP for Reading East
One of the issues which, rightly, most exercises parliament continues to be the inadequate response from Government to the tragedy that happened at Grenfell.
The solution to this is clear. We believe the cost of remedial work should be met by either the Government or the developer. It should not be the responsibility of residents who bought properties in good faith only to find them deficient.
Many residents have been living with unbelievable stress caused by concerns about fire safety while at the same time facing enormous bills for work to make flats safe.
I have been raising this issue in Parliament, together with other MPs and I am pleased that we have been successful in forcing the Local Government and Housing Secretary to take more actions but he has resisted doing so at every opportunity and while some improvements
have been made, there still remains too many people who face crippling bills and an uncertain future.
Sadly, the publication of the Building Safety Bill this week has made it harder for owners to deal with the problem they inherited from developers.
While the Bill introduces new rules which, in theory, will prevent buildings being constructed in a way which is unsafe, it offers little priority to the remediation of buildings already at risk.
The Bill also fails to address the challenges faced by residents [including many in Berkshire] in low-rise buildings, of less than four stories tall, who share similar risk and potential costs but are constantly overlooked by Ministers.
Grenfell and the ongoing challenges with cladding expose just one part of a growing problem that is reflected in my postbag – the quality of housing being built.
I am often contacted by constituents who have moved into a new build homes only to find that there are problems with the quality of the finish, or that there are longer term structural issues which have been overlooked.
Some developers then deny responsibility leaving those who should be enjoying a new home grappling with a system that seems to work against them at every opportunity.
I am confident that parliament will act, collectively, to ensure that the Government does the right thing in terms of supporting and helping residents in buildings which could be a fire risk.
However, there is still more to do to ensure that developers take seriously their responsibility when it comes to the safety of the flats and houses they build.
