Hundreds trapped in flammable buildings "held to ransom" claims Leeds City Council deputy leader

A senior Leeds city councillor has said hundreds of people living in Leeds are living in blocks of flats covered in “dangerous cladding”, while building owners do nothing.

Leeds city councillors are set to vote later today (11 November) on whether to put further pressure on government over flammable cladding, with the council’s deputy leader Debra Coupar claiming private leaseholders are being “held to ransom” during a time of economic uncertainty.

It's after Greatest Hits Radio launched our #ClearTheCladding campign which revealed:

• An estimated 700,000 people are still living in dangerous buildings over 6 storeys

• Residents have been left stranded, unable to sell their property until unsafe cladding is removed

• Government funding to remove cladding is thought to only cover 20% of buildings

• People living in these flats report feeling 'suicidal' and 'helpless at lack of action

Councillor Coupar will present a motion, known as a white paper, to a full Leeds City Council calling on national government to provide funding to ensure all flammable cladding is removed by 2022.

The motion reads: “This council believes it is a scandal that hundreds of private leaseholders in Leeds still live in high rise flats with dangerous cladding, despite it now being over three years since the tragic Grenfell Tower fire.

“Council believes it is unfair that many residents who bought their properties in good faith now face both the immediate cost of having to fund waking watches, as well as not knowing whether they will one day wake up to a financially crippling bill from their building owner for remedial works.

“This is in addition to the increased impact on the mental wellbeing of individuals held to ransom in this way at a time of steadily rising unemployment.

“Council believes it is time for firm action from the Government rather than continued broken promises, to avoid a repeat of the Grenfell Tower tragedy.

“Council therefore expresses its support for the End Our Cladding Scandal campaign and calls on the Government to lead a national effort and provide the funding to remove all dangerous cladding from all buildings by June 2022 at the latest, with the prioritisation of those blocks most at risk.”

In Leeds hundreds of people are affected by this crisis, inlcuding Abi Tubis. She set up Leeds Cladding Scandal Group last year after finding out her building was covered with cladding as flammable as that used on Grenfell.

Her life has been put on hold since her flat became worthless and is currently unable to sell.

She said: "I'm thirty, we were thinking of starting a family. That's not going to happen now because it would be the most ridiculous thing to bring a child into the world. We're just trapped.

"Our life is in the hands of someone who's in control and accountable for the building, so the building owner, but they don't pay any pennies towards it.

"This was so unforeseen, we didn't build these buildings, we bought them in good faith.

"It is completely wrong that the costs will come down to the innocent people trapped in this crisis."

The Grenfell Tower fire in 2017 saw 72 people die after a flat fire spread across the building due to flammable exterior cladding on the building.

Members of Leeds City Council will hold a vote on whether to adopt the motion as policy at a meeting on Wednesday, November 11.