More than 20 buildings in Greenwich are still at least part-covered in flammable cladding similar to that wrapped around Grenfell Tower, according to Government figures.
Hundreds of Greenwich residents continue to live in private homes lined with dangerous material blamed for the spread of the fatal blaze in North Kensington, and the south east London borough one of the highest numbers of dangerously lined buildings in the country.
In total, 246 high-rise buildings in England still have aluminium composite material (ACM) cladding on them, more than three years after the tower block blaze killed 72 people.
Of those, 142 have not yet had remediation work begin to remove the material which was blamed for the tragic west London tower block fire.
According to the Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government (MHCLG), work has not yet started on 107 private sector residential buildings, 15 hotels, 10 social sector residential buildings, five student accommodation blocks and another five publicly owned buildings.
Another 104 buildings across England have started remediation but still carry ACM cladding in some way as of June 30, the department said.
Greenwich ranks as one of the top three areas in the country in terms of ACM cladding, and, along with Tower Hamlets and Salford, still has more than 20 ACM-clad buildings yet to be remediated.
Manchester, as well as Brent, Westminster, Wandsworth and Newham boroughs in the capital all have between 11 and 20 buildings needing work.
Earlier this month, a senior Government official said it was "unacceptable" that buildings were still covered in the material.
Jeremy Pocklington, permanent secretary at the MHCLG told the Commons Public Accounts Committee that: "It's clearly unacceptable that unsafe ACM cladding remains on any building three years after the tragedy of Grenfell."
He added: "At the heart of the problem, too many building owners have not stepped up to their responsibility to make sure that these buildings are safe for leaseholders and for residents".
Greenwich Council’s director for regeneration and growth, Pippa Hack, said back in 2019 that the authority expects costs not to be passed down to leaseholders.
She said: “We have been working with the building owners to ensure they have appropriate mitigation measures in place and looking to discuss long term remediation plans.”
One development in Greenwich, New Capital Quay, is thought to be the biggest development in the country with the material.
Other buildings affected include the Novotel Hotel, for which work started in February.
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