Salford 'betrayed' by block cladding funding refusal

Spruce Court in Salford which is one of the nine tower blocks run by Pendleton Together

The government has "betrayed the people of Salford" by refusing to fund the removal of cladding from nine tower blocks, the council has said.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) set aside about £400m to help make social housing safe after the Grenfell fire in 2017.

However, the blocks were not part of a housing association so did not qualify for funding, Salford City Council said.

Deputy mayor John Merry said the situation was "beyond belief".

A MHCLG spokesman said the government was "fully funding the removal and replacement of unsafe cladding on high-rise social housing buildings".

Mr Merry said the council was "trapped in a bureaucratic fog of how regulations are now being interpreted" and could not end its 30-year contract it has with block management company Pendleton Together (PT) without risking significant delays and financial penalties.

Beech Court is another one of the nine Salford blocks that will have cladding removed

The MHCLG had also refused to let the council lend PT about £25m to replace the cladding, meaning that the company would have to raise the money to pay for the work privately, he told the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

He said that "doesn't benefit the public purse in any way as the money would have been repaid to the council".

"The minister who signed off on this should be ashamed, not only for betraying the people of Salford, but also for undermining the words of the prime minister, who promised to tackle the issues relating to cladding."

The council has sent letters to residents to inform them of the decision.

At least 80 people died after fire engulfed Grenfell Tower in London on 14 June.

Subsequent tests found cladding on 120 high-rise buildings in 37 English local authority areas had failed fire safety tests.