Building Safety Regulator delays “unacceptable” – Lords Committee

Delays under the Building Safety Regulator’s (BSR) approval process are “unacceptable”, according to a report from a cross-party House of Lords Committee.

The Industry and Regulators Committee’s report, The Building Safety Regulator: Building a better regulator, also states that the delays - which have seen some applications for high rise residential buildings delayed by almost a year – are threatening the government’s 1.5 million new homes target.

And the approval process, according to the Committee, is “leaving residents waiting for remediation of dangerous cladding in unsafe buildings and increasing costs for leaseholders”.

The report welcomes the BSR’s “increased scrutiny” of safety regarding the design, construction and management of buildings, but, in one of its key findings, it states that the regulator has not given “clear enough” guidance on how applicants are meant to demonstrate that their buildings are safe.

Drawing from a range of witnesses including representatives of campaign groups and other organisations, developers, housing associations and regulators working closely with the BSR, the Committee also finds that:

• Many applications are being rejected or delayed due to basic errors
• Difficulties in local authority funding and the introduction of regulation have left an …