Fire fund 'too little, too late' for high-rise

Residents in at-risk flats in Wales fear losing their homes over fire safety risks posed by issues such as cladding

Campaigners say a plan to fund fire safety surveys in blocks of flats does "very little" to ease leaseholders' concerns.

The surveys will be available from autumn, with the cost met by the Welsh government.

The move follows the Grenfell Tower fire tragedy in 2017, in which 72 people died.

But the Wales Leaseholder Action Group said many had already paid for their own safety surveys.

The group said it was "greatly concerning" that ministers were "only now" taking this step, four years after events in London.

In addition, those affected by issues such as dangerous cladding on their building, were still waiting to find out when a fund for repair work will be launched.

Campaingers from the leaseholders' group staged a protest on Saturday in Cardiff, to voice their mounting anger.

The Welsh government said it wanted the UK Government to confirm when extra funding will become available.

Currently, about a third of Wales 152 high-rise residential blocks have fire safety defects, according to Welsh officials.

Some flats are unsellable and leaseholders have faced repair bills, higher service charges and insurance costs.

Flat leaseholder Becky Ashwin is one of those campaigning for help

Becky Ashwin, who lives with her partner in a Cardiff Bay development said: "While leaseholders wait for decisions to be made we continue to pay unaffordable costs such as insurance increases and waking watch.

"My partner has recently lost his job and we live with uncertainty every day - if we will lose our home, if we are safe and if we will be able to afford the next bill.

"The Welsh government response has been too little, too late."

• Grenfell Tower: What happened

• £3.5bn for cladding 'not enough'

Announcing the scheme to fund safety surveys earlier in the week, Climate Change Minister Julie James said the measures would not just focus on cladding, but would take a "holistic" approach, taking into account internal defects, such as ineffective "compartmentation", a process that is meant to contain fire in a single room or flat.

"The findings from a fire safety survey will inform the creation of a 'Fire Safety - Building Passport'," she said.

The grant-funded checks would be made available for buildings over 36ft (11m) tall.

Welsh government documents said further details of a remediation repair fund would be made available "as soon as it is finalised by Spring 2022".

But Ms James also said she believed developers should be doing more: "I intend to hold a roundtable with developers later in the year and will continue to impress upon them the importance of stepping up to meet their responsibilities."

She also reiterated her call to the UK government to clarify how much additional funding would be coming to Wales as a result of spending on fire safety in England.

UK officials said Wales will receive extra cash through the Barnett funding formula, and said the Welsh government could "implement their own levies should they choose to do so".

Campaigners voiced their anger on the streets of Cardiff on Saturday

Members of the Wales Leaseholder Action Group held a protest in Cardiff on Saturday to voice their mounting concerns.

Founder Cerys Owen said: "We are facing, and are already paying, crippling costs, bankruptcy, and losing the homes we have worked so hard for.

"The support urgently needed by leaseholders in Wales is not just for a grant to carry out more surveys, but support in funding the actual remediation of these buildings."

She warned that by the time repair cash was finally made available "many of us will have already lost our homes".

A Welsh government spokesman said it was "committed" to creating a building safety fund, that went beyond fixing problems with external cladding.

"We sympathise with residents who are caught in these terrible circumstances through no fault of their own," they added.