Agenda item

The Chair introduced the report which covers on the LGA’s building safety

related work since its last meeting.

Charles Loft, Senior Advisor informed the Board that:

·       Progression on remediation remained slow compared to the scale of the issue.

·       The Joint Inspection Team have resumed inspections and MHCLG has confirmed that the JIT will continue working next year with a remit that

expands to cover non-ACM dangerous cladding.

·       The Building Risk Review programme remained ahead of its target schedule to ensure all residential buildings over 18m in height had been assessed or inspected by the end of 2021.

·       Waking Watch relief fund had been going well and MHCLG were pleased with how well councils have delivered this.

·       RICS have published updated information on the EWS1 form.

·       The key Government announcement since the previous meeting had been on leaseholder costs. The LGA had some concerns about how the low interest loans will work, including that potentially half of buildings which need remediation due to non-cladding fire safety issues may not be covered by it. On the social sector, if the Government does not fund remediation this could push rents up.

Following the brief discussion, Members made the following comments:

·       Following from the last Board meeting members commented that private building owners applying to government funds were being silenced with gagging clauses, stopping them from speaking to the press or other parties without government approval, an update on this remained outstanding. Charles responded that he would raise this issue at the Grenfell Task and Finish Group and update Board members with a response.

·       There were some issues with notifications relating to fire service issued notices, as these had sometimes been handed out without a collaborative approach to producing an action plan for short and long term solutions to fire safety issues. Charles responded that the LGA, NFCC, Home Office and MHCLG were working on building effective mechanisms between local authorities and fire services to ensure a holistic approach is taken.

Decision:

            Members of the Safer and Stronger Communities Board noted the report.

Action:

·       Officers to update the Board on gagging clauses at the next meeting.

Date of the next meeting: Thursday, 17 June 2021, 11.00 am, TBC