Brighton residents living in fear as they wait for dangerous cladding to be removed

WATCH ITV Meridian's Report is by Charlotte Wilkins

Millie Windsor is one of over 200 resents living in the City Point Development in Brighton which is covered in combustable cladding and wooden balconies. But residents have been told that remedial work to remove it won’t start until next year at least and will take 3 years to complete.

Mille said, “We’re living in fear. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know how much risk we’re in. I don’t know what would happen if there’s a fire or what would come out the smoke. I don’t know what would happen to us or the people that live here."

Millie has bought fire safety hammers to keep in each room of her flat and she keeps a bottle of water and a towel by her son's bed in the event of a fire.

It’s been seven years since 72 people lost their lives in the Grenfell Tower disaster. The final inquiry report released last week outlined the incident was "avoidable".

But still thousands are living in buildings with dangerous cladding and are unable to sleep easy in their beds.

Jamie Gunn, a member of the City Point Residents Association said it's the not knowing that's the hardest part, "The point is we don’t know what is in that cladding."

"I personally have been asking since December last year, and the City Point Residents Association have been asking to have sight of the fire report so we can advise the community on how to protect themselves."

"The management company here are not involving us, so therefore, we’re in the dark."

Sian Berry MP for Brighton Pavilion says she’s “outraged” that full report is not being shared.

We approached Barratt Developments and they said the cladding on City Point is an EPS (expanded polystyrene) render system and is therefore not the same as that of Grenfell.

However, that comes as little comfort for those in the development who currently have no centralised fire alarm system.

In a statement Barratt Developments said, “In line with our obligations under the Building Safety Pledge and Developer Remediation Contract, we are committed to resolving any fire safety issues at the development, at no cost to leaseholders."

“We are currently paying for the Waking Watch on site, despite having no legal liability to do so, and are working to get a new fire alarm system installed and the cladding replaced as quickly as we can.“

"We’re also in the process of installing additional external staircases and pedestrian walkways to support the evacuation strategy in the event of a fire, while the cladding works remain outstanding."

A spokesperson for the management company, First Port said, "The safety and wellbeing of residents at City Point is our foremost priority."

"We have been working closely with Barratt to ensure they adhere to their remediation obligations at the development."

"We continue to provide support and regular updates to residents, with all key information made available to them.”

In the meantime, residents face higher insurance charges and issues with selling their flats within the block.

Since the publication of the damning Grenfell report, the government has said there are plans to accelerate remediation work on buildings with dangerous cladding but there is no timeline.

The residents of City Point say they will believe it when they see it.

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