LONDON, May 9 (Xinhua) -- A scheme costing 260 million U.S. dollars to urgently remove unsafe and dangerous cladding from high-rise apartment blocks in England was announced Thursday by Prime Minister Theresa May.
The work, needed after the Grenfell Tower tragedy in London, will be carried out on nearly 170 privately-owned tower blocks where owners have failed to remove the cladding, said the government agency, Homes England.
Following the Grenfell Tower fire, the government identified 176 private high-rise residential buildings with unsafe cladding.
Latest data, compiled by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, shows work so far has only completed on 10 towers.
The fire, in June 2017, was one of the worst in London, and left the 24-storey block of in North Kensington, a charred ruin. The fire caused 72 deaths.
The agency said the government has stepped in to speed up vital cladding replacement by fully funding the work, eliminating excuses used by some building owners.
May said: "We've seen a number of private building owners doing the right thing and taking responsibility, but unfortunately too many are continuing to pass on the costs of removal and replacement to leaseholders."
"Today I can confirm we will now be fully funding the replacement of cladding on high-rise private residential buildings so residents can feel confident they are secure in their homes."
Homes England praised the work of Grenfell United and the UK Cladding Action Group who campaigned for action and outlined the challenges in getting private building owners to fund the replacement of cladding on their buildings.
Private developers and freeholders have been too slow to act and leaseholders have been threatened with significant, often unaffordable, costs resulting in delays, said the agency.
Latest figures show 166 private buildings are yet to start work on removing and replacing cladding.
Building owners will now have 3 months to access the new fund before the government decides what further action can be taken against owners who fail to remediate their buildings.
As a condition of funding, the government says it will require building owners to take steps to recover the costs of the work from those responsible for the presence of the unsafe cladding.
