Housing trust apologises to tower block residents still living with Grenfell cladding - after five YEARS

A social housing block in Trafford identified as having ‘potentially unsafe ’ ACM cladding nearly five YEARS ago is still waiting for it to be replaced.

The cladding, the same kind that was largely blamed for the spread of the fire in Grenfell tower in London which killed at least 72 people in 2017, was first identified on five towers in Old Trafford soon after the tragedy. Grafton Court, Princess Court, Clifford Court, Pickford Court and Empress Court, home to 455 residents, all had around 15pc of their exterior surfaces covered in the problem cladding.

Cladding replacement for four out of the five Trafford social housing tower blocks has now finally been completed, according to housing group Trafford Housing Trust, which manages the blocks. But one tower - Clifford Court - is still waiting for its cladding to be replaced.

READ MORE: ‘People are beyond breaking point’: Huge increase in those seeking debt support

The delay comes after new panels ordered were ‘slightly the wrong colour’, and a resident of one of the other courts said the state of the other blocks still ’causes anxiety’. Graham Scott, Trafford Housing Trust’s executive director of development, updated the council at a scrutiny meeting this week.

He said: “I think it’s best we start out with an apology because it’s taken us a long time to get here. We recognise that.

“We’re not the only organisation in the country dealing with this issue though and there’s still a large number of tower blocks out there that, in the hundreds, that haven’t been re-mediated. So, we do believe that we’re getting to a positive position.”

Wilf Stevenson, resident of Pickford Court, also attended the meeting. His daughter was born in May 2020 and said the fire safety