Building Safety

Tom Hunt Excerpts

Monday 30th January 2023 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

I very much doubt the freeholders’ appeals to poverty in this case. If the hon. Lady lets me know precisely who the freeholders are, the RSU can make sure we find the truth.

[Tom Hunt (Ipswich) (Con)]

It is vitally important that we make these buildings safe, and that leaseholders should be paid, but it is also vitally important that, when this remediation work is carried out, the mental health of those still living in the buildings is taken into account. Twenty months ago, after the management of St Francis Tower gained access to the building safety fund, a giant shrink wrap was put on the building. A number of my constituents have been literally living in darkness. I would not allow animals to live in those conditions, and it should not be legal. Has any thought been given to a code of practice with teeth that sets benchmarks for what is acceptable and what is not acceptable when it comes to this sort of work? The block management of St Francis Tower have badly let down the residents, and I believe they have acted in an immoral way.

[Michael Gove]

My hon. Friend has been a very effective advocate for those residents and for people in the Cardinal Lofts building. He is absolutely right; sometimes it is necessary to decant people from buildings that are unsafe, and there should be an obligation on those who are doing that to ensure that people are in appropriate accommodation. More will follow in order to ensure that we give teeth to that provision.