Cladding safety concerns in Sovereign Harbour

I have had several residents contact me about the cladding issue in the Sovereign Harbour.

As Eastbourne’s MP and councillor for Sovereign Harbour I have been told by several residents that Caroline Ansell has received many letters regarding cladding safety in Sovereign Harbour.

Many Sovereign residents have written to Caroline Ansell about this issue asking for her support. As she has not been replying I sent an email myself.

Unfortunately Caroline has not seen fit to address this issue of concern in the harbour and failed to reply to my email as well.

Surely this begs the question: Is Caroline Ansell MP, Sovereign councillor, concerned about her constituents and their plight regarding this issue?

By failing even to reply to letters she is ignoring her residents’ concerns.

The Government has reversed its promises to leaseholders that freeholders and developers should foot the bill for remediating dangerous cladding on properties.

Clause 88 and 89 of the Building Safety Bill now before Parliament allow leaseholders to be charged to remediate historical safety defects.

MPs on the housing committee said in a scathing report recently that it would be “unacceptable” to make leaseholders “contribute a single penny” towards “remediating defects for which they are not responsible”.

Leaseholders already pay huge service charges and vastly increased insurance premiums.

With bills in the tens of thousands each to remediate cladding many also now face eviction and bankruptcy,unable to borrow to fund works against a property that lenders say is worth zero.

The Liberal Democrat Party have tabled an amendment to address this and as Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Sovereign Ward I am now asking what Caroline Ansell’s position is on this issue.

I called upon Caroline to lobby the government to amend their position which is grossly unfair to leaseholders.

As she has not spoken publicly on this issue the leasehold residents of Sovereign Harbour are very interested to know if she will support them as the MPs on the housing committee have done and work to address this key issue in the Harbour.