Ministers ‘dragging their heels’ on removal of dangerous cladding – Tory MSP

The Scottish Government has been accused of “dragging their heels” on the removal of dangerous cladding.

Between 1,260 and 1,450 buildings in Scotland may need remedial work to remove the material.

But only a small number of projects have been been started, despite the Grenfell fire – which spurred on action to remove the cladding – happening in 2017.

Tory MSP Jeremy Balfour criticised what he said was a lack of progress on the issue, saying in Holyrood: “It’s been eight years since the Grenfell tragedy brought the issue of dangerous cladding to light and yet the Scottish Government are still dragging their heels while people are stuck in potentially dangerous properties or unable to sell their homes without proper certification.”

Addressing housing minister Paul McLennan, he said: “Can the minister finally give us a timeline for when the single building assessment will be introduced and confirm that it will be in line with UK lenders and what they require?”

In England, there is a target to complete the remediation of high-rise buildings by 2029 and for mid-rise buildings to have either been completely remediated by the date, or to have a plan in place with a date set.

Mr McLennan said Scotland could not be compared to England, saying the country faced different challenges not seen elsewhere in the UK.

He said the Scottish Government has already set up a “comprehensive cladding remediation system” with a £10 million fund to help owners with assessing potentially at-risk properties.

Mr Balfour accused the minister of not answering his question about UK lenders, describing it as “deeply disappointing”.

He called for a central register for affected properties to address the issue.

Tory MSP Stephen Kerr said Mr McLennan’s claim that Scotland could not be compared to the rest of the UK on cladding was “bizarre”.

He accused the Scottish Government of “sitting” on UK cladding funding.

Lib Dem MSP Willie Rennie said the Scottish Government was “way behind” as he urged Scotland to set a deadline for remedial work, similar to England.

Mr McLennan told MSPs: “I talked before about being disappointed about the pace and breadth of making progress previously but, now as I said, with the single open call and the work that we are taking, we are seeing actions being taken and the pace of action being taken increasing.”

In June 2024, the Housing (Cladding Remediation) (Scotland) Bill was passed, giving ministers powers to “to assess and remediate certain types of buildings with unsafe cladding”.

On Friday, the Scottish Government said latest estimates indicate its cladding remediation programme could cost up to £3 billion over a 15-year period.