SANDWELL'S housing chief has hit out at government delays in paying money out to local authorities following the Grenfell Tower disaster.

Councillor Kerrie Carmichael, the council's cabinet member for housing, has spoken out this week after the Prime Minister announced the government would pay out £400 million to help councils remove dangerous cladding from tower blocks.

The news comes 11 months after the firestorm that claimed 72 lives in June last year when flames ripped through the Kensington and Chelsea high rise block.

The cause of the disaster was later identified as cladding panels on the outside of the building which were not fire resistant.

In Sandwell, the authority checked its 55 blocks for dangers and found four towers - including Oldbury's Astbury Court and Lawrence Court - were aluminium composite material panels on balconies and windows were removed following tests.

The council reported that work to replace them with an upgraded fire resistant material was completed in early 2018, but Cllr Carmichael said the government should have released the new funds much sooner.

“It’s about time the government made this announcement,” she said. “It’s nearly a year since we started work to replace the panels at these four blocks and we have always said we would welcome government funding to cover the costs we incurred.

“Having witnessed the tragic events unfold at Grenfell Tower we felt it right to use our own resources to move quickly to provide reassurance to residents.”

She added: “We are waiting for further details from the government on which aspects of the work we have done will be covered by this fund.

“Throughout this period we have provided ongoing support to all residents of high-rise buildings, including working closely with West Midlands Fire Service and reviewing fire risk assessments in all our tower blocks.”

Dudley Council has stated it dose not need to claim from the Government's £400 million as none of the borough's 21 high-rise blocks have cladding.

Councillor Laura Taylor, cabinet member for housing, said: "As such, we have no need to apply as a council for cash from this new Government fund.

"The safety of our tenants is of paramount importance to us, and all of our blocks are inspected daily by appropriate staff.

"We have also been working with West Midlands Fire Service to complete fire audits on all of our blocks, and we carry out regular technical checks and more in-depth quarterly rolling inspections.

"We have not incurred any extra costs as an authority since Grenfell, with the funds for the above coming from our rolling planned maintenance budget for those buildings."