Manchester residents still living in unsafe homes seven years on from Grenfell disaster

ITV Granada Reports journalist Anna Youssef has been hearing from one man whose building is covered in cladding similar to Grenfell Tower.

Residents are still being forced to live in unsafe flats - seven years on the Grenfell Tower fire which claimed 72 lives.

A long-awaited report into the tower block fire found the disaster was due to "decades of failure" by the Government and the construction industry.

Following the fire a nationwide review of housing safety was carried out, which found many apartment buildings across the North West used the same unsafe cladding

But, despite the findings, and the former government urging developers to pay for remedial work needed to make the building legal, many residents are still living in unsafe homes.

Tom Brothwell discovered more than five years ago his apartment in Castlefield, in the centre of Manchester, is covered in cladding similar to Grenfell - but work has still not been carried out to fix it.

"Essentially we're trapped, we can't move on, we're stuck in this situation," he said.

"It's on your mind all the time 24/7, when you're not in the driving seat, when you're not in control, when you're relying on others who aren't delivering that's when you really start to ask the difficult questions."

Tom said it was around 18 months after Grenfell he was first told there may have been an issue with his block of flats, now almost six years later his life, he says, is still on hold.

"It's absolutely insane," he said. "We talk about this being my home, if this was my house on a street and I knew I had this problem I'd go out and fix it straight away.

"But we're in the hands of so many other people and agencies who control the building, ultimately we can't influence what happens to our homes, we can't make it safe on our own.

"We need their help and support and ultimately it's not happening quick enough."

Tom discovered five years ago that his flat is covered in cladding similar to Grenfell Tower.

He said it was an issue which left many of the residents living there in limbo and trapped.

"It impacts me, it impacts my neighbours, once you know you've got an issue like this you can't really move on, you can't really change anything in your life," he added.

"In the time since we found out, in the last five and a half years, I've had neighbours who have had babies who can't move into houses because they can't sell.

"I've got people who have got divorced who can't move on with their lives, and we're totally stuck and trapped."

The issues mean Tom is unable to sell his home, change his mortgage provider or "move on with my life", adding the "system is broken."

"If you look at other blocks across the Manchester skyline you'll find they haven't got plans in place", he said.

"They haven't got permissions, they're nowhere near starting and in some cases it will take several years until that work is complete."

Tom said it could taken between 18 months to three years to complete work on a block of flats depending on where they are.

Manchester cladding safety campaigners the Cladiators want the government to act on the report recommendations, to ensure another tragedy does not happen again.

"The report has been published today - it's extensive. It's saying what we knew all along," Giles Grover from Manchester Cladiators said.

"All the deaths were avoidable and what that tells us now is that this government need to get on with making our homes safe across the country with no further delay."

Expressing his concern about the number of buildings which still have unsafe cladding, Starmer said "the speed at which this is being addressed is far too slow", and promised "we will take the necessary steps to speed this up".

He added: "We will be willing to force freeholders to assess their buildings and remediation schemes within set timetables, with a legal requirement to force action... we will also reform the construction products industry."

The PM confirmed his government will respond fully to the inquiry report within six months.

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