The lengthy process of identifying what work needs to be done and who should pay for it has left many residents living in fear of fires or with worries over costly repair bills.
The housing department had previously estimated that works in buildings over 11 metres in England would be completed by 2035.
However, earlier this year the UK’s spending watchdog, the National Audit Office warned that this target would be missed unless the process was speeded up.
It also estimated that up to 60% of buildings with dangerous cladding had still not been identified.
The government has now produced a remediation acceleration plan which it says will “get buildings fixed quicker, ensure rogue freeholders are held to account, and put the end in sight for affected residents”.
The government says the new deadlines it has set, requiring action by 2029, will be backed by investment in enforcement.
It also says 29 developers, covering 95% of the buildings being fixed, have committed to “more than doubling the rate at which they have been assessing and starting to fix unsafe buildings”.
Housing Minister Alex Norris said developers could face fines or even criminal sanctions if the deadlines are not met.
“We will use whatever options it takes – we are drawing a line in the sand,” he said.
The housing department has estimated that fixing unsafe cladding on all residential buildings over 11 metres in England will cost between £12.6bn and £22.4bn.
The government has committed to contributing £5.1bn to the total bill, with the rest being funded by developers, private owners or social housing providers.
However, End Our Cladding Scandal, a group representing leaseholders impacted by unsafe buildings, said that they are “still far from a comprehensive solution” on building safety.
The group said in a statement: “Labour’s remediation acceleration plan is extremely disappointing. These proposals will only make a horribly complicated process worse with further layers of bureaucracy.
“The government may be patting itself on the back by announcing a target date for all high-rise buildings in government-funded schemes to have been remediated; however, the building safety fund first opened for registrations in June 2020, so a target date of nine years from then is underwhelming.”
The group added: “We are still far from a comprehensive solution that will bring about the change innocent leaseholders and residents across the country need and deserve to see.
“There is still far too much uncertainty. Severe penalties will be meaningless without leaseholders and residents knowing for sure when homes will be made fully safe. This ‘plan’ will do little to change that.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
