Residents forced to move their vehicles while their building undergoes work to remove deadly flammable cladding won’t be charged for parking, after a deal to absolve them of the costs was struck with the local authority.

Inhabitants of Bromley’s Northpoint Tower feared they would be slugged with extra parking costs during remediation work to remove faulty ACM cladding on their block – the latest in a string of costs totalling more than £600,000 over the last three years.

Abseiler have begun removing the cladding in a project funded by the government’s £1.6bn Building Safety Fund pot, put together following the Grenfell Tower disaster in 2017.

Part of the work has required residents to remove their vehicles from on-site car parks – leading to concerns they’d be slugged with yet another charge due to their nightmarish situation.

The additional costs would have come on top of the thousands of pounds of charges residents have faced since the faulty ACM cladding was identified on the building in 2017 – with residents paying a collective £24,000 a month for a ‘waking watch’ fire warden since then.

However, Bromley Council confirmed to the local democracy reporting service an agreement had been reached where residents wouldn’t be charged for parking while remediation work was being undertaken.

Ritu Sahu, a leaseholder at Northpoint and a founding member of the UK Cladding Action Group, said the news was welcomed by “heartbroken” residents.

News Shopper: Northpoint resident Ritu Saha said living in unsafe housing for years had taken a heavy mental toll on those living there. Northpoint resident Ritu Saha said living in unsafe housing for years had taken a heavy mental toll on those living there.

“I am relieved that Bromley Council has seen sense and determined that the innocent victims of Northpoint should not be charged to park our cars displaced as a result of the cladding remediation project,” she said.

“While this saving is a drop in the ocean compared with the nearly £650,000 that the 57 families in our building have had to spend on interim measures in the last three years, this will provide some relief to already struggling residents, who have been forced to pay huge sums simply for the privilege of being able to stay in our homes, the walls of which have been classed as flammable as petrol.”

Bromley Council leader Colin Smith said the authority as well as local MP Bob Neill had continued to support and lobby the government on behalf of residents “throughout their horrendous ordeal”.

“Whilst progress has been slower than anyone would have wished for, there are positive signs that action is now being taken, with some Government funding being made available,” he said.

“When the (Northpoint) Directors approached the council looking for temporary assistance for their residents whilst that work is carried out, given their unique circumstances, I am very pleased to confirm that the council has indeed been able to find and offer them a cost free solution nearby for the duration.”

The news come as a brief moment of relief to residents stuck in a cladding crisis producing similar issues across the entire UK.

“I was a first-time buyer who saved for 10 years with no family support, only to be told two years later it was covered in cladding flammable as petrol,” Mrs Sahu said, in a story familiar to thousands of residents across the nation.

“We’re heartbroken that we moved to Bromley thinking this is a nice place…The mental strain of living in an unsafe building for so many years has taken a toll.

“There’s no end in sight for the mental stress and anxiety. We’re being told to write a blank cheque. Why am I being punished?”

An inquiry into the Grenfell Tower tragedy is currently underway.