“Wild West” of building safety must be addressed to avoid another Grenfell

“Significant weaknesses” pointed out in audit report must result in Building Safety Act being “properly resourced and enforced” – Mabon ap Gwynfor MS

Audit Wales have today (Tuesday 1 August) published a report into building safety which makes recommendation to Welsh Government to provide greater clarity on the Building Safety Act in terms of expectations, implementation, and oversight.

Speaking about the report, Plaid Cymru spokesperson for housing, Mabon ap Gwynfor MS said:

“The report from Audit Wales rightly points out the significant weaknesses under the building safety regime in Wales currently and that more work needs to be done to ensure that the new regime must be properly resourced with a consistency in implementation across Wales.

“The Local Government and Housing Committee is looking into the issue and the evidence that has been brought forward suggest that building safety is like the ‘Wild West’, with developers cutting corners in order to maximise profits, so it’s about time that we see something done about this. 

“However, while the new Building Safety Act should be a step in the right direction it is showing up the weaknesses in the devolution settlement with Wales and England diverging on certain issues. The Welsh Government should not be trying to hang on to the coattails of Westminster and should instead be developing primary legislation in Wales, for Wales.

“If the new Building Safety Act is to work and if we are to avoid another Grenfell tragedy then the Conservative Government in London must end their Austerity 2.0 and not skimp on funding these essential services. Local government funding has been cut to the bone and it’s no wonder that Local Authorities are struggling to fully implement the requirements of the Act because they have other statutory duties that they must fulfil with diminishing resources. Both Governments must ensure that Local Authorities are properly funded if we are to have faith in building safety standards in Wales and across the UK.”