UK News

Residents in Salford apartment block handed £100k bill to remove cladding

"I definitely do not have £100,000 to pay for someone else's mistakes."

The Manc The Manc - 24th June 2021

Dozens of residents at an apartment block in Salford have been told they each face a £100,000 bill to remove flammable cladding and make a series of other fire safety improvements.

Flat owners at Transport House in Salford had already been concerned that they could face costs as high as £30,000 for fire safety measures, but they were recently sent an email telling them they each faced a bill for £97,000 to replace the combustible expanded polystyrene (EPS) cladding and install cavity barriers.

With other measures included, their bill could reach six figures – and in some cases, these sky-high costs exceed the entire value of their homes. 

Residents in the apartment block say their situation is one of several cases that exposes serious inadequacies in the government scheme designed to protect leaseholders from serious fire safety costs after the Grenfell Tower tragedy, the Guardian reports.

ADVERTISEMENT

The £5 billion government grant scheme referenced has been designed to help fund work needed to make buildings safe.

Addressing the situation, a spokesperson for the Ministry for Housing said: “Building owners are responsible for making their buildings safe, including the owners of Transport House, and we expect them to take swift action to identify and fix defects, including where work has been sub-standard, without passing costs on to leaseholders.”

The £100k bill is to remove flammable cladding and make other fire safety improvements / Credit: Google Maps

While government ministers have said that a loan scheme could mean residents will not pay more than £50 extra a month for recladding, many have not yet been given details.

ADVERTISEMENT

It’s now not just the financial impact, it’s also affecting the residents’ mental health.

Resident Matthew Harris said he would be “destroyed” by the costs handed to him – which amount to more than he paid for his Salford flat less than a decade ago.

He told ITV Granada: “I’m exhausted. I’ve not slept properly since we’ve had the news. I’m constantly trying to find ways to make the situation better, trying to learn more about the situation – it’s become almost like a second job.”

ADVERTISEMENT

“I definitely do not have £100,000 to pay for someone else’s mistakes,” he added.

Claire Griffiths – Executive Director of Growth, Development and Assets at affordable homes and services provider, Irwell Valley Homes – conceded it was an “impossible situation” for those affected.

“We know this is an impossible situation for the homeowners affected and remain committed to supporting them and working together to try to find a solution,” she said.

Featured Image – Google Maps

UK News

Government ditches menu calorie counts after just five months

Georgina Pellant Georgina Pellant

In April calorie labelling on menus became a legal requirement for restaurant groups employing over 250 staff in the UK, but now the government could be looking to drop them altogether.

Under the orders of the Treasury, government ministers have ordered an official review of its anti-obesity strategy. As a result, menu calorie counts could now be scrapped as part of a ‘drive to cut red tape’, reports The Guardian.

First introduced on April 6, new rules currently require larger hospitality businesses to display calorie counts ‘clearly and prominently’ along with the statement ‘adults need around 2000kcal a day’.

But now a new review, described by Whitehall sources as “deregulatory  in focus”, could see the policy ditched entirely, meaning many cafes, takeaways and restaurants thart have invested in printing new menus will now likely find them redundant.

When calorie labelling came into force, it was widely criticised by eating disorder charities, restauranteurs, chefs and food critics alike.

Then Public Health Minister Jo Churchill, said at the time: “Our aim is to make it as easy as possible for people to make healthier food choices for themselves and their families, both in restaurants and at home. That is why we want to make sure everyone has access to accurate information about the food and drink we order.

“These measures form an important building block in our strategy to support and encourage people in achieving and maintaining a healthier weight.”

Masterchef winner Simon Wood, who has a restaurant on First Street, appeared on TV the morning the legislation was introduced to speak out against it.

Speaking on BBC Breakfast, the Oldham-based chef said that although the rules didn’t currently apply to him, he wouldn’t consider following suit unless forced.

He told viewers: “Sometimes given the current situation with hospitality and the supply chain things aren’t there, you have to adapt your menu on the fly, what are you going to do? Rewrite it every day? 

“What if things don’t turn up? What if you’re making a sauce and you need four bottles of wine but you’ve only got two?

“What if someone adds too much salt, sodium, things like that that aren’t considered in calories, I think there’s a bigger approach to what people should be looking at than just a number.”

A week later, Manchester restaurant Dishoom made headlines for scribbling calories off its menu at a customer’s request. Soon after, it added a calorie free option.

Many others have since followed suit, suggesting the move to ditch calorie labelling could prove popular with business owners.

Read more: ‘Until I’m forced to do it, I wouldn’t’ says Simon Wood as calorie counts added to UK menus

However, the review may also look to ditch the 2018 sugar tax, a measure hailed by experts for helping to make soft drinks less unhealthy.

It is also likely to reverse bans on displaying sugary products at checkouts and multi-buy deals, as well as scrap restrictions on advertising before the 9pm watershed.

Health officials are said to be ‘aghast’ at the idea that the new Prime Minister could potentially scrap the new anti-obesity strategies, which were agreed upon and approved by parliament just this year.

The Obesity Health Alliance, a grouping of 50 health charities and medical organisations, has described it as “a kick in the teeth”.

“We are deeply concerned. It would be reckless to waste government and business time and money rowing back on these obesity policies, which are evidence-based and already in law. These policies are popular with the public, who want it to be easier to make healthier choices,” Katharine Jenner, the alliance’s director, told The Guardian.

ADVERTISEMENT

Read more: Manchester restaurant Dishoom scribbles calories off menu at customer’s request

There has also been criticism of the move from within the Conservative party, with one Tory peer telling the paper: “Improving the nation’s health is one of the best ways we can increase productivity and workforce capacity and thereby drive growth. So I would be very surprised by any decisions that actually strive to make the UK less healthy.”

Liz Truss said in a recent newspaper interview: “Those taxes are over.

“Talking about whether or not somebody should buy a two-for-one offer? No. There is definitely enough of that.”

She added Brits “don’t want the government telling them what to eat”.

Feature image – Dishoom

UK News

Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng wants to scrap the cap on bankers’ bonuses

Georgina Pellant Georgina Pellant

The new UK chancellor may have only been in post for ten days, but he’s already causing a stir in the Treasury – first by sacking the department’s top civil servant of thirty years, and now by ditching the cap on banker’s bonuses.

Kwasi Kwarteng, appointed to the position by Liz Truss on 6 September, is said to be considering scrapping the cap on banker’s bonuses in a bid to make the City of London ‘more globally competitive’, reports The Huffington Post.

The cap, introduced in 2014, limits the amount bankers can receive in bonuses to twice their annual salary. So under the current rules, a banker on £165,000 would be able to take home up to £330,000 in bonuses on top of their annual salary.

Prior to the EU’s introduction of the cap, bankers were more likely to take large risks like those which led to the financial crash of 2008 (and a subsequent £500 billion UK taxpayer bailout for those banks considered ‘too big to fail’).

Read more: King Charles III won’t pay 40% inheritance tax on £641 million estate

Considering the government has been advising pay restraint in the public and private sector as essential for tackling inflation, currently at 9.9% according to The Consumer Prices Index, the move is likely to prove unpopular with voters.

Still, the desire to ditch the cap is not new. The Conservative party has been opposed to the policy from the start, with George Osborne attempting to overturn it at the European court of justice when it was first introduced.

According to the Financial Times, Kwarteng has told City bosses: “We need to be decisive and do things differently.”

Read more: Drivers could soon be hit with £70 fines at these seven Manchester junctions

He is expected to reveal a mini-Budget in parliament next week following the national period of mourning for the Queen, in which he will confirm the government is also scrapping the rise in national insurance payments introduced to support the NHS, and ditching plans to increase corporation tax.

Feature image – Flickr / Wikimedia Commons

More UK News

Manchester

Sainsbury’s give staff second pay rise and free food to help with cost of living

News

Butcher trolling King Charles’ ‘sausage fingers’ says he’s “definitely going to hell”

News

Thousands of hospital appointments cancelled because of Queen’s funeral

Audio

Clint Boon takes us around Manchester's iconic Deaf Institute

Eats

We go meatballs deep with Mira's traditional Neapolitan sandwiches