Welsh Liberal Democrats Respond to Building Safety Announcement

The Welsh Liberal Democrats have accused Labour and Plaid Cymru of “trying to reinvent the wheel” following the latest building safety announcement by Climate Change Minister Julie James.

The Liberal Democrats have stated that today’s announcement still fails to set out clear legally enforceable timelines for remediation work to continue and fails to commit to implementing Section 116-125 of the Building Safety Code which is in place in England, instead seeking to add more delays by ploughing ahead with its own regulations.

Commenting Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader Jane Dodds MS said:

“I welcome today’s announcement that the criteria for those eligible to access the Leaseholder Support Scheme have been widened. This is down to months of campaigning from victims to address a disparity which should never have been allowed in the first place.

“However, the rest of today’s announcement is disappointing and primarily focuses on the future of building safety rather than speeding up action to tackle the current crisis. It is extremely disappointing that instead of simply enacting the Building Safety Act in full as it exists in England, Labour and Plaid Cymru feel the need to reinvent the wheel with their own measures, something that will add just more delays to the situation.

“It is also disappointing to see that there has not yet been a success in convincing the big banks to restart lending to victims, once again an area where the Welsh Government have lagged behind those in England.”