Housing minister Lee Rowley has called on local authorities to do more to tackle building owners who fail to fix high-rise buildings in the wake of the Grenfell tragedy.
The minister convened a round table of council chief executives to discuss how they are using the £8m the Government provided councils to boost enforcement teams.
He acknowledged that councils and fire and rescue services had played a ‘crucial role’ in ensuring dangerous buildings get fixed, but stressed more needed to be done.
‘Lots of councils are already doing great work in this area but all councils need to take the appropriate action to protect residents and make sure those responsible for making homes safe do so without any further delay.’
Mr Rowley added: ‘The warning to owners refusing fix their buildings is clear: get on with remediation or action will be taken against you.’
A spokesperson for the Local Government Association (LGA) said: 'The LGA are proud to have led this work by hosting the Joint Inspection Team. Consisting of fire engineers, building control specialists and environmental health inspectors, the team has supported councils in taking enforcement action in around 100 high rise buildings with unsafe cladding.
'The team are doing important work to help protect residents in buildings across the country. It’s important now that the Government provide them with the long term funding they need to continue this vitally important work into the future.'
