Agenda item

*Clerk’s note – Cllr Blake was running late, so the Chair agreed to alter the order of the agenda. The minutes reflect the order in which items were discussed during the meeting, rather than the order of items on the published agenda.*

The Overview and Scrutiny Committee previously approved recommendations on Fire Safety in High Rise blocks at its meeting on 25 March 2019. Cabinet provided a response to those recommendations at its meeting on 9 July 2019. The Committee considered a further update on Fire Safety in High Rise Blocks at this meeting. The covering report and presentation were introduced by Bob McIver, Head of Building Control as set out in the agenda pack at pages 27 – 46. The following arose from the discussion of this item:

a.    In response to a question about the Council’s interactions with housing associations around fire safety, officers advised that the Council had very little interactions with housing associations and housing association properties as they had been pushed to deal with MCHLG on their own terms. It was noted that there was significant funding available from the government for the removal of ACM cladding and that housing associations were liaising with the government as a result. However, officers advised that to date the MHCLG were not allowing the Council to see the data in relation to housing association properties. The Head of Building Control was continuing to push back on this in order to have a complete picture of all buildings in the borough.

b.    Officers were asked to comment on the level of influence that the Council had with private buildings and housing associations to access fire safety reports. In response, officers advised that the information pertaining to private buildings was captured as part of the data capture exercise but housing association returns were provided to the MHCLG directly. Bob McIver agreed to speak to the AD Housing and ask him to include this on the agenda for the next meeting between housing officers and social housing providers. (Action: Bob McIver).

c.    The Committee requested that it receive further information in relation to the pilot that was being set up and due to report back in 3-6 months. Officers agreed to request that a report come back to either the Committee or the Housing Panel on the outcome of the pilot scheme. (Action: Bob McIver).

d.    The Committee reiterated a request that had been made previously around Councillors receiving detailed fire safety risk assessments on HfH estates. Officers agreed to feed this back to HfH for a comment and it was also suggested that this could be picked up at a future meeting of the building safety group. (Action: Bob McIver).

e.    In relation to a question about existing buildings in Tottenham Hale with cladding, officers advised that they had received all of the returns around this as well as other issues and the cladding in question was not ACM cladding, so not the same material as at Grenfell. As far as officers were aware, an application from the freeholders for funding to change the cladding had been made to the government.

f.     In relation to new build properties, it was noted that Haringey Building Control were inspecting a number of these and it was confirmed that this wasn’t a paper exercise and that a proper inspection process was carried out.

g.    In relation to concerns about staffing pressures given the increased number of inspections required, officers confirmed that this was a concern and the Head of Building Control was preparing a report for his Assistant Director around altering the staffing structure to address additional demand. All of the building surveyors in Building Control were qualified to carry out the high risk work. However additional resources to carry out the high risk work would be required along with taking on board a number of apprenticeships who would be involved in low risk inspections (rather than high rise blocks).

h.    The Committee agreed to put forward an urgent recommendation to Cabinet about the need for additional staffing resources within Building Control and that this should be part of a wider discussion about the resources required within that team. (Action: Committee Members/Clerk).

i.      The Committee welcomed proposals to recruit more apprentices in Building Control.

j.      The Committee sought assurances around the role of residents panels and who would sit on these. In response, officers advised that the panels emerged in response to residents at Grenfell saying that nobody listened to their concerns. However, the exact details of how these would be made up and their powers would be developed further as part of the secondary legislation emerging from the Building Safety Bill.

k.    The Committee also sought assurances around what was being done for residents with disabilities to ensure that plans were in place to help them leave buildings in an emergency. In response, officers advised that Building Control did not have any control over were accessible units were located within a block. In many instances disabled residents would be located on lower floors, or higher levels would contain evacuation refuges which would include a communications system with the concierge, for example.

l.      In response to concerns raised about the timescales of it taking 4 years for the legislation to be full enacted, officers assured Members that a significant amount of work was taking place in the interim and that most of the changes would be implemented before then.

m.  Further concerns were raised about the design of buildings for disabled residents such as the use of heavy doors and the fact that lifts and internal doors were too small for wheelchair users. Further concerns were also raised about the accessibility and usability of the communications systems for some disabled residents. Officers advised that they would feed these concerns back to HfH. Officers assured the Committee that accessibility concerns were checked as part of the building control inspection process for new buildings but that HfH were responsible for existing housing stock. Part of the inspection process included minimum specifications for doors etcetera.

n.    The Chair asked that the key points raised as part of the discussion were fed back to Cabinet and the relevant Cabinet Members for information. (Action: Clerk).

o.    The Committee queried about the extent to which leaseholders had been engaged with in respect to significant increases in service charges and insurance premiums in high rise blocks due to the need to provide 24h hour fire wardens. It was questioned whether this issue had been discussed at Council meetings. Officers acknowledged the issues highlighted and the disproportionate impact on leaseholders as a result. Officers advised that there was not a great deal that the Council could do about this but advised that the government had released significant funds to assist with removal of cladding.

p.    Cllr Brabazon commented that, in light of the information from Grenfell,  the Council should be taking a leading role in working with residents and leaseholders about developing a participatory model of engagement, rather than waiting for the residents’ panels to emerge. Officers advised that HfH were working on this and that HfH would be asked to draft an update on what was being done on this for OSC. (Action: Bob McIver).

q.    In response to a question around new build properties, officers confirmed that the Council was not the only body able to carry out building safety inspections and that there were also around 90+ private firms able to undertake these. Initial feedback from the Building Safety Bill was that all new buildings above 6 stories would have to go to the building safety regulator and that local authorities would be prioritised in terms of carrying out building safety inspections on these properties.

r.     In relation to stricter planning regulatory controls, officers advised that there would be a new planning requirement for a fire statement as part of the Bill, which would include information on building materials and access for the fire brigade for example. In addition, the new London Plan also contained a much greater emphasis on fire safety.

s.    The Committee agreed for a further update to come back later in the year. (Action: Bob McIver/Clerk).

t.     The Committee also requested that an all Member briefing should be arranged on the issue of fire safety. The Head of Building Control was asked to raise this with the relevant Cabinet Member and the relevant Director. (Action: Bob McIver).

RESOLVED

That the update on fire safety was noted.