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.
The £5 billion government grant scheme referenced has been designed to help fund work needed to make buildings safe.
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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.
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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.”
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“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
Trains from Manchester ‘extremely limited’ amid record heatwave
Daisy Jackson
‘Extremely limited’ train services are running across the North West this week as the country melts in a record-breaking heatwave.
Northern has reached out to passengers to warn that a ‘significantly reduced’ number of trains are operating in and out of Manchester.
They’re urging people to avoid travelling at all unless your journey is ‘absolutely essential’.
And if you do have to travel, they’ve warned of ‘significantly longer waiting times, busy trains and short-notice cancellations’.
The disruption is set to continue all day today and into tomorrow, Friday 26 June, as temperatures up north are forecast to hit 34ºC and an Amber weather warning for extreme heat covers much of the country.
Northern has assured passengers that they ‘are doing everything we can to keep people moving as efficiently as possible’.
Passengers are encouraged to check their journey before setting off, carry water, and avoid peak times where possible.
If you chose not to take a planned journey, you can claim a full refund on your ticket, or travel on another day using Northern’s ticket easement.
Trains from Manchester ‘extremely limited’ amid record heatwave. Credit: Northern
You can see the full travel advice for Northern HERE.
Avanti has issued a similar message, reducing one train per hour on the London-Manchester route and offering refunds for tickets booked for Tuesday 23, Wednesday 24, Thursday 25 or Friday 26 June.
You can also use those tickets to travel flexibly any time up to and including Tuesday 30 June.
Northern said in a notice to passengers: “Due to the continued extreme heat, we have significantly reduced the number of trains running on routes in and out of Manchester, and services remain in high demand. This will now continue into Friday, 26 June.
“We strongly recommend customers consider whether their journey is necessary and if customers do choose to travel this week, they are advised to prepare for significantly longer waiting times, busy trains and short-notice cancellations.
“We would ask all customers to only travel if your journey is absolutely essential and to check your full journey before setting off.”
Here’s our petition for ‘Wonderwall’ to become England’s new football anthem
Danny Jones
All things considered, England have made a great start to the 2026 World Cup, pitching themselves as one of the great entertainers this tournament, and the scenes of the supporters and players alike serenading an entire stadium with ‘Wonderwall’ after the full-time whistle gave us chills.
So why not time for a change?
After all, that feels a lot like what this World Cup squad is about: a new manager, new teammates, not clinging to the previous ways of playing – and perhaps it’s time to put ‘Sweet Caroline’ to one side.
Now, we’re by no means saying that we’re ‘done’ with the Neil Diamond anthem that has been reborn as a Three Lions anthem, but look at how good it was watching England belting out Oasis with the fans.
“Today is gonna be the day that England beat Croatia 4-2”, as BBC’s Match of the Day cleverly quipped.
Obviously, we’re biased as Mancs, but we also think there’s something special about having that particular track feel so good to hear again.
As much as we love Oasis, for a long time, it felt like we couldn’t enjoy arguably their biggest-ever single anywhere near as much as we once did.
We assume it’s something akin to hearing ‘Mr Brightside’ non-stop for what felt like millennia, and in truth, hearing those repetitions of “ba, ba, ba… SO GOOD, SO GOOD!” over and over again at sporting fixtures beyond just national team games has taken the magic out of it at times.
Perhaps it’s just a case of saturation in certain settings and songs simply being overplayed – FIFA’s co-hosts over in the US certainly helped see to that when it came to ‘Wonderwall’ for a long time.
On the other hand, it feels like we’ve now come full circle; singing those famous lyrics at the top of our lungs in a sea of Mancs and fans travelling from all over to Heaton Park for Live ’25 last year felt better than ever, and like we’d all remembered how great a tune it’s always been. So did this…
In fact, this felt so emotional that you’ve got people who aren’t even English praising both those on the pitch and up in the stands for the moment online.
Even the admittedly rather American Man vs Food himself, Adam Richman (though he does have British ancestry), felt compelled to write a moving response on social media: “Shut up. You’re the one that’s crying. Bravo, England.”
He’s far from the only one who was left bowled over by the atmosphere – us included.
What do you think? Is it time for a new go-to tournament anthem for the Three Lions moving forward?
The Manc -
24th June 2021 
