Scottish Government “inaction” over potentially dangerous cladding on buildings has left families “living in fear” for too long, MSPs have been told.
While the Scottish Government has brought forward legislation on cladding remediation work in the wake of the Grenfell Tower blaze in 2017, which killed 72 people, opposition politicians hit out at ministers over a lack of action.
It comes in the wake of a report by Holyrood’s Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee, which revealed that of the 105 buildings on the Scottish Government’s cladding remediation programme, only one had had any remediation works carried out, with mitigation work being done at one other building.
As a result, Labour housing spokesperson Mark Griffin questioned if the Scottish Government had shown the “leadership” needed to deal with the situation.
Speaking about those living in affected buildings, he said: “Every night families living in these dangerous buildings go to sleep filled with dread and fear, and because of that government inaction families have been left living in that fear far too long.”
Speaking as Holyrood debated legislation brought forward in the wake of the Greenfell fire, Mr Griffin added: “It has taken seven years to develop a Bill, seven years to get to this point, where the rest of the UK, England and Wales have been powering ahead.
“Not developing legislation, but fixing the buildings, making them safe.”
Of the 1,608 affected properties in England, 42% have had remediation work either started or completed by the end of last year.
Meanwhile in Wales, Labour said work had been completed on 37 buildings so far, and was under way on a further 86 properties.
Speaking as MSPs unanimously approved the general principles of the Housing (Cladding Remediation) (Scotland) Bill, housing minister Paul McLennan accepted that “homeowners and residents want to see more pace into the programme”.
The Bill has been introduced by the Scottish Government to give ministers power to assess and carry out remediation on buildings with unsafe cladding – with any remediation work then recorded in a special register.
Mr McLennan added that the legislation would also allow them to take steps “to stop residents who are owners who are perhaps blocking progress at the moment”.
He added: “By introducing the Bill, the Scottish Government recognises the acute problem that cladding represents in terms of life safety, the urgency of remediation of cladding and the need for transparency and accountability.”
Conservative housing spokesperson Miles Briggs said his party would back the legislation, despite “real concerns about the Government’s limited progress”.
The Tory said: “Almost seven years on from the tragedy of Grenfell Tower, and almost three years since the Scottish Government began its building assessment process, we have seen very little progress to survey and actually take forward mitigation schemes.”
He added: “For many homeowners who are resident in the 105 developments across Scotland this has not only been a stressful time, it has seen their lives put on pause, with homeowners in many cases unable to sell, unable to insure their property, unable to plan.
“This Bill must be the start of a better process towards delivering a sustainable solution to cladding remediation here in Scotland.”