Mayor to meet Rayner in bid to resolve cladding 'battle!

GREATER Manchester residents are having to 'battle' to find out when their homes will be safe from dangerous cladding, campaigners say.

- DECLAN CAREY

Seven years after the Grenfell Tower fire which killed 72 people, more than 150 buildings around Greater Manchester are in 'interim measures' due to unsafe materials. In buildings where work has started, progress has often taken several years, with some high rise blocks left covered in scaffolding.

Residents in some blocks around the region have complained about how fire safety works have made their lives a 'nightmare' and taken too long.

The situation has led to Andy Burnham asking the government to step in, with the mayor due to meet Angela Rayner to discuss the issue.

Giles Grover, from the group Manchester Cladiators, said long-suffering leaseholders and tenants need urgent action from the government to resolve the situation. "The law may have changed over two years ago, but it is too complicated," the campaigner added.

"There are several funding schemes, layers of unequal leaseholder protections, complex ownership building structures, self-interested stakeholders arguing over liability, and ongoing disputes over safety risks.