Town hall chiefs yesterday called for more than £400mn in government funding for safety work on tower blocks in the wake of the Grenfell fire.
London Councils, which represents all 32 boroughs and the City, said it needed the cash for major alterations including re-cladding, new fire doors and installing sprinklers.
More than half of the money would be for just two councils — Kensington and Chelsea, where the fatal fire took place in June, and Southwark.
The council body — whose members own more than 1,500 residential blocks of six storeys or more — warned that the boroughs could not afford the remedial works themselves as a result of their “incredibly difficult” financial position.
A briefing paper for MPs, seen by the Standard, shows that the potential cost of safety improvements is estimated to be £402mn.
More than £53mn, according to 21 boroughs that responded to a London Councils survey, would be for immediate work.
Overall costs include sprinkler systems costing £262mn and cladding work at £53mn.
While some boroughs have reserve funds they can dip into, many do not.
They claim the spending would affect planned repairs, maintenance and home-building.
Ministers are being asked for financial help, flexibility over right-to-buy receipts or the lifting of local authority borrowing caps. Sir Steve Bullock, of London Councils, said: “We are committed to doing everything we can to protect residents following the Grenfell Tower fire… this includes urgent remedial work on cladding systems, upgrading fire doors and installing sprinklers, which will cost around £402mn.
“As London boroughs have experienced a 63% funding cut during this decade and will have a £1.5bn funding gap by 2020, we are in an incredibly difficult financial position.”
Workers erect scaffolding around the Grenfell tower in London yesterday.
