Councillor Nick Hollinghurst, Liberal Democrat County Councillor for Tring and the Villages has joined in the call for justice for leaseholders in buildings blighted by cladding concerns.
“The Grenfell Tower residents who died should have been protected not only by adequate local and national standards and regulations but also by an efficient local system of inspection and enforcement. The current leaseholders and, for that matter, councils and landlords, provided they were not also culpable in the tragedy, were entitled, and are currently entitled, to be likewise protected.”
“It is grotesque that leaseholders in similar towers and blocks should have to pay for historic mistakes and crimes by others.
The leaseholders in particular should be provided with indemnity and compensation by the state and safe cladding should be fixed to the properties in which they live, likewise at state expense.”
Cllr Hollinghurst said, “I believe natural justice demands no less.”
He continued, ”
He concluded, “It is the serious defect that besets all right wing governments that their antipathy to the state they are supposed to administer tends to lead them to cut finance and regulation in ways which can eventually lead to tragedies like this one.
Although Cllr Hollinghurst is not aware of any cladding blight in Tring he renarks that in a large county like Hertfordshire there could well be case where cladding blight exists and, if not solved quickly, such problems could easily drive many leaseholders into bankruptcy.