Issue - meetings

Further to Minute 41 (19 September 2017), the Cabinet Member for Economic and Social Development introduced a report setting out a series of fire safety policy proposals that had been developed by the Council in consultation with the London Fire Brigade and other key partners, specifically those involved in the construction industry.

The Cabinet Member explained that 11 specific recommendations had been developed that also reflected the Government’s direction, the early findings from the Grenfell Tower tragedy and the recommendations of the 2013 Lakanal fire inquiry.  There were three main principles of ‘Improving fire safety in buildings’, ‘Using regulation to improve fire safety’, and ‘Protecting people from the risk of fire and reducing the impact of fire if it occurs’, which covered aspects such as building materials, sprinkler systems, fire detection and alarm systems, Building Control requirements and the stringent enforcement of powers relating to Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO) in residential tower block of more than five storeys.  With regard to the retro-fitting of sprinkler systems, the Cabinet Member confirmed that premises would be individually assessed against key criteria to ensure that any works would not have a detrimental effect on the integrity of the building. 

Cabinet Members spoke on the need for Central Government to introduce more robust national fire safety standards and requirements to help prevent future tragedies and to properly fund the fire safety improvement works being undertaken by local authorities.  The Leader advised that the Local Government Association was actively lobbying the Government on that issue and he was also pleased to offer the reassurance that all tower blocks in the Borough had successfully undergone a fire safety assessment in the last few months. 

Cabinet Members commended the proactive work by Council officers and the local Fire Brigade and asked to be kept regularly informed of progress.

The Cabinet resolved to:

(i)  Approve the policy recommendations set out in section 2 and Appendix 1 of the report; and

(ii)  Note the potential financial implications on the Housing Revenue Account of the policy recommendations, the impact of which would be developed in conjunction with the HRA Business Planning process.