Only three of the 160 social housing towers identified as dangerous after the Grenfell Tower fire are known to have been reclad with safer materials, leaving tens of thousands of people still living in “fire hazards”.

Seven months after the fire that killed 71 people in west London, the number of council and private blocks over 18 metres high across England found to be wrapped in similar combustible plastic-filled cladding has risen to 312, figures released by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government revealed. Almost all of those – 299 – are likely to be in breach of building regulations on fire safety. Officials predict the numbers will continue to rise.

Just over 100 towers that are home to people who rent from councils and registered social landlords have not had any combustible cladding removed despite panels failing tests. Cladding has been removed from 17 buildings, while the process of recladding has started on a further nine. The government said that it only knows of three that have been fully reclad, but said there may be more.



The pace of the response was attacked by Labour as “simply not good enough” and emerged amid disputes between councils and the government over who should pay.



Camden, which has stripped the cladding and insulation from five towers and has estimated the replacement cost to be £50m, is seeking government support. The works will not be completed until summer 2019, the north London council has estimated.

Temperatures inside the flats of blocks being worked on have dropped because of a lack of insulation. The council has promised to pay tenants extra heating bills. In Salford, where nine council housing towers had their cladding condemned, not all of the material has been removed. The council has previously demanded the government contribute to the cost.

“More than seven months after the Grenfell Tower fire, it should shame ministers that only three blocks with dangerous cladding have had it replaced,” said John Healey, the shadow housing secretary.

“Only one in four of Grenfell survivors have a new permanent home, the government still can’t confirm how many highrise buildings are unsafe and ministers are refusing to help with any funding for essential fire safety work in the blocks they do know are dangerous. It’s simply not good enough.”

Sajid Javid, the housing secretary, told parliament on Monday that 36 councils had contacted the government asking for help, but Healey said none of them had received it.

Javid said the government was “ready to provide whatever financial flexibility” was needed for the works to be carried out and that only four of the 10 councils asked to provide further information had done so. He conceded recladding would take time but added that safety measures were in place already at affected blocks and the government’s priority had been securing safety.

Disputes between freeholders of privately owned blocks and leaseholders over who should pay for remedial work are also growing. Last week, the Guardian exposed how freeholders on two complexes in Croydon, south London, and Slough in Berkshire were attempting to pass bills totalling about £6m to leaseholders.

On Monday, Javid said: “Whatever the legal case may be, the moral case is clear that the tab should be picked up by the freeholder.”

Lord Porter, who chairms of the Local Government Association, said landlords needed “urgent clarity about how they should be replacing materials on their highrise blocks”. He added that the government must “meet the unexpected exceptional costs” from the major remedial works.