It’s hard to think of a greater scandal in the Town right now than the building safety scandal.
Approximately 1,000 of my constituents are now caught up in it, through no fault of their own.
As I’ve said before, this is a national scandal, but one Ipswich seems to be at the forefront of.
Buildings that should never have been signed off have been by Ipswich Borough Council that should never have been. In many cases they never met the building safety regulations of the time.
Of course, there is also the issue of the developers who built these inadequate buildings in the first place, many of which seem to have disappeared.
The sad reality is that it isn’t those responsible who are currently paying the price for this ineptitude, it’s my constituents who in good faith purchased flats in these buildings and are now stuck in a cruel form of limbo.
I continue to meet weekly with residents of the Mill complex on the Waterfront. There is a fair bit going on behind the scenes at the moment and I really hope we can get a significant breakthrough in the not too distant future.
Government Ministers are well aware of the situation and are actively engaged in a number of negotiations with relevant stakeholders. I continue to try my hardest to get answers for my constituents from RSM (the administrator of the building).
Last Friday, I went for a tour around the Mill with some residents to gain a greater understanding as to its complexity.
In addition to the cladding and structural issues, there are also questions over the service being delivered to residents. An example is one of the blocks of many floors which has had its single lift out of action for weeks.
We have had more grim developments this week in St Francis Tower, with some residents being informed that they won’t be able to move back into their homes for months on end, due to the flooding issues there have been in the building.
Block Management have also stated that the flooding issues will have a knock-on impact on the cladding remediation work. This will mean that the shrink wrap and scaffolding could continue to be up for another 2/3 months.
Let us remember that it was in spring 2021 that the shrink wrap on St Francis Tower first went up. It rightly sparked outrage across the town at the time and we were initially told the work would take eight months or so.
The way things are going I wouldn’t be surprised it if ends up being three years. This is a truly shameful state of affairs and I personally find it chilling that something like this can be legal in today’s society. Human beings should not be expected to live in these conditions.
Only a few months ago, the Government published a Code of Practice in relation to cladding remediation works. It is clear to me that what has happened at St Francis Tower falls well short of this guidance.
In November my Bill on creating a new legally binding Code of Practice for cladding remediation works will return to the Commons. This will give me an opportunity to talk at length about not just St Francis Tower but all the other shocking developments in our Town and the many hundreds of residents whose lives are currently being turned upside down because of this scandal.
What makes me so angry is that those who have been most responsible for this crisis, causing immense suffering for so many of my constituents, get away with it.
This needs to change. We need solutions urgently for those stuck in limbo and we also need to see justice.
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