The UK has a housing crisis. After 14 years of failed Tory government, the symptoms of this crisis will be all-too-familiar to so many of our constituents. From skyrocketing rents to unaffordable homes, the housing shortage is having a huge impact, and this Government has rightly prioritised addressing this.
But there is another side to the housing crisis that is equally important: building safety. Events of recent years have put this issue at the forefront of our national conversation about housing. It has been eight years since that terrible night in June 2017 when the fire tore through Grenfell Tower due to unsafe flammable cladding and claimed at least 72 lives. It seems scarcely believable that after all this time so much vital safety work has not even begun. How can it be that thousands still live in fear of another cladding fire?
This is a problem that I know only too well. My constituency of Southampton Itchen has one of the highest number of high-rise buildings with unsafe cladding in Hampshire. Shockingly, remediation work has started at barely a third of these properties. My casework inbox and surgeries are full of heartbreaking stories from residents, including from leaseholders who cannot sell because banks will not offer mortgages on their properties. Those in this unenviable position tell me they feel like prisoners, trapped in homes where they do not feel safe. Others are finding themselves suddenly evacuated from their homes when their buildings fail long-delayed safety assessments. When, shortly after the election, I organised a meeting for constituents who had been affected by cladding, our large meeting room was filled by more than 60 constituents, each with their own story of stress and uncertainty stretching back months and years. Enough is enough. My constituents – and others across the country – have lived with this nightmare for too long.
I am pleased that after years of dither and delay, we are finally seeing some meaningful action in this area. The government’s strengthened Remediation Acceleration Plan should help to overcome the most serious barriers that have slowed down the process to a snail’s pace. More stringent target dates for making buildings safe and tougher penalties for developers and landlords who do not meet their obligations are long overdue.
It is a fundamental principle of fairness that homeowners and tenants should not have to carry to cost of fixing building safety issues. Why should my constituents who bought or rent their homes in good faith be penalised for something that is not their fault? They should not – and I am pleased that this government agrees, as shown by its determination to bring forward the introduction of the new Building Safety Levy to Autumn 2026. This is a levy on new residential buildings that meet certain criteria, and it will raise revenue to be spent on building safety. It is a vital measure to ensure that the industry that holds collective responsibility for long-standing building safety issues make a fair contribution, and that ordinary hardworking people aren’t left out of pocket.
It is right and fair that we extract a fair contribution from the housing industry, and by bringing the levy into effect in Autumn 2026, the government is giving registered Building Control approvers time to prepare for the levy; and housing developers who will pay the levy will have reasonable time to factor levy cost into their financial planning. It may be that we need to go further in ensuring that housing providers are not rewarded for failure, and as we look forward to an uptick in construction activity, I think that many of my constituents would agree that any housing providers that do not comply with their obligations to homeowners and tenants should be firmly out of the running for any new contracts or funding.
These are all steps in the right direction that will be welcomed by constituents. But we need to do more. When I met with the Building Safety Minister Alex Norris recently, I suggested several policy priorities that have emerged from and been shaped by the many conversations which I have had with those affected. Some of these focused specifically on cladding and fire safety – for example, further work to support leaseholders living in developments below the 11-metre threshold. But others spoke to the increasingly common opinion among my constituents that our archaic and centuries-old leasehold system is no longer fit for purpose. With so many leaseholders suffering delays to remediation and other fire safety works due to unfair and unreasonable practices from managing agents and landlords, it is little wonder that so many of my constituents feel that it’s high time for more radical change.
The Labour Government has rightly pledged to get Britain building again and finally deliver the new homes that are so desperately needed. But surely one of the lessons from this long-running crisis is that speed and cost-cutting cannot be at the expense of safety. That is why my constituents have supported my call for measures to ensure the long-term quality and standards of future housing developments.
Many long-suffering constituents – especially leaseholders, who bought their homes in good faith – tell me that they have heard too many promises before. While this scepticism is understandable, the onus is now on all of us across Westminster and beyond to show that actions speak louder than words. While there is still much to do, our first year in power has seen this government clearly signal its intention to get to grips with building safety, and I hope this gives my constituents the confidence that the action they have waited so long for is finally on its way.
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