MSPs have given interested parties a month to give their views on proposed building-safety laws.
The Scottish Parliament’s Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee launched a public consultation on the Housing (Cladding Remediation) (Scotland) Bill earlier this week.
Ministers north of the border announced plans in September to introduce the legislation over the coming year as part of an ongoing building-safety drive in the wake of the Grenfell Tower tragedy.
The Scottish Government said the bill would create “new powers to remediate buildings with unsafe cladding that present a risk to life”.
The bill would allow ministers to maintain a Cladding Assurance Register to give residents confidence in works carried out, and enable the creation of a Responsible Developers Scheme to encourage builders to pay for or carry out remediation work on relevant structures.
The committee said its call for views, which is open until 8 December, would be “critical” to providing a range of stakeholders with an opportunity to comment on the legislative proposals.
Committee convener Ariane Burgess said: “Cladding was a major contributing factor to the fire which destroyed Grenfell Tower in June 2017, one of the UK’s worst modern disasters.
“We’ve launched our call for views on the Housing (Cladding Remediation) (Scotland) Bill, as it provides the first opportunity for public input on the proposals.
“It’s vital that we hear from the owners and residents of property in buildings with potentially unsafe cladding to hear if this bill addresses their concerns, as well as from industry professionals and developers about their views.
“The committee understands the urgency in addressing the issue of unsafe cladding, and this bill represents a critical step towards achieving safer conditions for all those affected.”
