This Council notes:

• the tragic fire in Grenfell Tower in 2017 led to a series of events which uncovered a growing scandal of residential buildings with flammable materials, missing fire breaks, and other fire safety defects;

• that thousands of Manchester people live in such buildings, and that number continues to rise, including disabled people who face compounding difficulties including lack of specific support for their needs, additional financial pressures, and the potential exacerbation of health conditions;

• the outstanding support that the Manchester Cladiators and CLADDAG campaigns have been providing to many residents;

• that many are unable to sell or re-mortgage their homes due to this situation and a broken ESW1 process;

• the support of the Executive Member for Housing & Regeneration alongside Manchester’s Members of Parliament in putting pressure on Government to seek resolution and to protect affected Manchester People;

• that Manchester City Council has been named an early adopter of Hackitt’s Grenfell building safety review, within which the Council aims to champion building safety, to encourage cultural change across the development industry, to ensure building safety is considered ‘upfront’ to prioritise safety now, and play an active role in developing building safety policy.

 

This Council believes that:

• the cladding crisis is a scandal that punishes leaseholders and Manchester people for systemic problems with building safety regulations and methods of development in England;

• this has a cruel effect on affected Manchester people’s mental health, leaving them in unsafe homes and facing lifechanging bills;

• it is grossly unjust that residents who bought homes in good faith should face remediation costs;

• the Government’s Building Safety Fund is inadequate both in scope and amount, failing to protect leaseholders from costs and to accelerate remediation;

• the Government must right broken promises, return to the original premise that no cost is past to leaseholders, abandon ‘loan schemes’, and act quickly;

• a viable route to remediation is for payment nationally to fall on the building industry coupled with a ‘pay now, litigate later’ approach as recently developed by the Australian Labor Party State Government in Victoria.

This Council resolves to:

• thank Manchester Cladiators and all campaigners for their efforts fighting this injustice, and to continue to support them in their campaign;

• continue supporting the End our Cladding Scandal campaign’s 10-step plan to tackle this crisis, to which Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, the Leader, and Councillors Richards, Lyons, Wheeler, Johns, Davies, and Wright are signatories

• ask the Chief Executive to write to the Minister for Housing Communities and Local Government to ask Government to accede to those 10 asks

• continue providing practical support to affected Manchester people, including asking the Planning Department to prioritise applications for fire-related remediation work, asking the Executive Member for Housing & Regeneration to continue to work with local groups, and helping affected Manchester people to understand their situation;

• continue acting inclusively on this issue, including actively involving affected disabled people, raising awareness of their specific issues and campaigning

• ask the Executive Member to work alongside Manchester’s Members of Parliament to develop a ‘Manchester Ask’ outlining the funding required remediate affected buildings in our city, saving Manchester people from hardship, unfair cost and worse consequences.

 

Proposed by Councillor Johns Seconded by Councillor Jon Connor Lyons and also signed (via email) by Councillors Jeavons, Wright, Murphy, Igbon, M Dar, Douglas, Wheeler, Davies and Richards

The Lord Mayor informed the Council that Councillor Johns, the proposer of the motion, was unable to be present at the meeting and had requested that the Councillor Lyons, the seconder to the motion, propose the motion in his absence. The motion would then be seconded by Councillor Richards who is a signatory to the motion.

 

Motion proposed and seconded

 

This Council notes:

• the tragic fire in Grenfell Tower in 2017 led to a series of events Council which uncovered a growing scandal of residential buildings with flammable materials, missing fire breaks, and other fire safety defects;

• that thousands of Manchester people live in such buildings, and that number continues to rise, including disabled people who face compounding difficulties including lack of specific support for their needs, additional financial pressures, and the potential exacerbation of health conditions;

• the outstanding support that the Manchester Cladiators and CLADDAG campaigns have been providing to many residents;

• that many are unable to sell or re-mortgage their homes due to this situation and a broken ESW1 process;

• the support of the Executive Member for Housing & Regeneration alongside Manchester’s Members of Parliament in putting pressure on Government to seek resolution and to protect affected Manchester People;

• that Manchester City Council has been named an early adopter of Hackitt’s Grenfell building safety review, within which the Council aims to champion building safety, to encourage cultural change across the development industry, to ensure building

safety is considered ‘upfront’ to prioritise safety now, and play an active role in developing building safety policy.

 

This Council believes that:

 

• the cladding crisis is a scandal that punishes leaseholders and Manchester people for systemic problems with building safety regulations and methods of development in England;

• this has a cruel effect on affected Manchester people’s mental health, leaving them in unsafe homes and facing lifechanging bills;

• it is grossly unjust that residents who bought homes in good faith should face remediation costs;

• the Government’s Building Safety Fund is inadequate both in scope and amount, failing to protect leaseholders from costs and to accelerate remediation;

• the Government must right broken promises, return to the original premise that no cost is passed to leaseholders, abandon ‘loan schemes’, and act quickly;

• a viable route to remediation is for payment nationally to fall on the building industry coupled with a ‘pay now, litigate later’ approach as recently developed by the Australian Labor Party State Government in Victoria.

 

This Council resolves to:

 

• thank Manchester Cladiators and all campaigners for their efforts fighting this injustice, and to continue to support them in their campaign;

• continue supporting the End our Cladding Scandal campaign’s 10-step plan to tackle this crisis, to which Greater Manchester Council Mayor Andy Burnham, the Leader, and Councillors Richards, Lyons, Wheeler, Johns, Davies, and Wright are signatories;

• ask the Chief Executive to write to the Minister for Housing Communities and Local Government to ask Government to accede to those 10 asks;

• continue providing practical support to affected Manchester people, including asking the Planning Department to prioritise applications for fire-related remediation work, asking the Executive Member for Housing & Regeneration to continue to work with local groups, and helping affected Manchester people to understand their situation;

• continue acting inclusively on this issue, including actively involving affected  disabled people, raising awareness of their specific issues and campaigning;

• ask the Executive Member to work alongside Manchester’s Members of Parliament to develop a ‘Manchester Ask’ outlining the funding required remediate affected buildings in our city, saving Manchester people from hardship, unfair cost and worse

consequences.

 

Amendment moved and seconded / -

 

In the section "This Council Notes", Paragraph 4, remove:

“that many are unable to sell or re-mortgage their homes due to this situation and a

broken ESW1 process;” and replace with “that many are unable to sell or re-mortgage their homes due to this situation and a broken EWS1 process;”

At the end of the section "This Council believes that", add

 

·          Developers who delivered dangerous and unsafe buildings due to negligence

and poor workmanship should remediate this work rather than expecting

leaseholders to pay.

The proposer of the motion accepted the amendment put forward.

 

The motion, as amended, was then put to the Council as a substantive motion. It was voted upon and the Lord Mayor declared that it was CARRIED.

 

Decision

 

This Council notes:

• the tragic fire in Grenfell Tower in 2017 led to a series of events Council which uncovered a growing scandal of residential buildings with flammable materials, missing fire breaks, and other fire safety defects;

• that thousands of Manchester people live in such buildings, and that number continues to rise, including disabled people who face compounding difficulties including lack of specific support for their needs, additional financial pressures, and the potential exacerbation of health conditions;

• the outstanding support that the Manchester Cladiators and CLADDAG campaigns have been providing to many residents;

• that many are unable to sell or re-mortgage their homes due to this situation and a

broken EWS1 process;

• the support of the Executive Member for Housing and Regeneration alongside Manchester’s Members of Parliament in putting pressure on Government to seek resolution and to protect affected Manchester People;

• that Manchester City Council has been named an early adopter of Hackitt’s Grenfell building safety review, within which the Council aims to champion building safety, to encourage cultural change across the development industry, to ensure building

safety is considered ‘upfront’ to prioritise safety now, and play an active role in developing building safety policy.

 

This Council believes that:

 

• the cladding crisis is a scandal that punishes leaseholders and Manchester people for systemic problems with building safety regulations and methods of development in England;

• this has a cruel effect on affected Manchester people’s mental health, leaving them in unsafe homes and facing lifechanging bills;

• it is grossly unjust that residents who bought homes in good faith should face remediation costs;

• the Government’s Building Safety Fund is inadequate both in scope and amount, failing to protect leaseholders from costs and to accelerate remediation;

• the Government must right broken promises, return to the original premise that no cost is passed to leaseholders, abandon ‘loan schemes’, and act quickly;

• a viable route to remediation is for payment nationally to fall on the building industry coupled with a ‘pay now, litigate later’ approach as recently developed by the Australian Labor Party State Government in Victoria;

·  developers who delivered dangerous and unsafe buildings due to negligence

and poor workmanship should remediate this work rather than expecting

leaseholders to pay.

 

This Council resolves to:

 

• thank Manchester Cladiators and all campaigners for their efforts fighting this injustice, and to continue to support them in their campaign;

• continue supporting the End our Cladding Scandal campaign’s 10-step plan to tackle this crisis, to which Greater Manchester Council Mayor Andy Burnham, the Leader, and Councillors Richards, Lyons, Wheeler, Johns, Davies, and Wright are signatories;

• ask the Chief Executive to write to the Minister for Housing Communities and Local Government to ask Government to accede to those 10 asks;

• continue providing practical support to affected Manchester people, including asking the Planning Department to prioritise applications for fire-related remediation work, asking the Executive Member for Housing & Regeneration to continue to

work with local groups, and helping affected Manchester people to understand their situation;

• continue acting inclusively on this issue, including actively involving affected disabled people, raising awareness of their specific issues and campaigning

• ask the Executive Member to work alongside Manchester’s Members of Parliament to develop a ‘Manchester Ask’ outlining the funding required remediate affected buildings in our city, saving Manchester people from hardship, unfair cost and worse

consequences.

 

(Councillor Midgely declared a personal and prejudicial interest and did not take part in the consideration or vote on the item.)

(Councillors Davies declared a personal and prejudicial interest and did not take part in the consideration or vote on the item.)

(Councillor Jeavons declared a personal and prejudicial interest and did not take part in the consideration or vote on the item.)