7. Debate on the Equality, Local Government and Communities Committee Report: 'Fire safety in high-rise buildings'

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:21 pm on 16 January 2019.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Jenny Rathbone Jenny Rathbone Labour 5:21, 16 January 2019

I just wanted to add one or two comments to what's already been said by the Chair and other Members. Over the recess, I visited the site of the Grenfell Tower, and I think it remains a very devastating landmark to the disgrace that most of these residents have not yet been allocated a proper home, despite the fact that Kensington and Chelsea is one of the richest boroughs in Britain and they seem to be too busy making development deals with people who want to build million-pound homes. If the UK Government wasn't so busy with Brexit, they should have instructed Kensington and Chelsea to rehouse these people compulsorily.

Anyway, I want to emphasise this lack of clarity about the front doors of flats because, as the Chair's already outlined, we've had lots of conflicting evidence, and absolute—. We know, anecdotally, from all of us having visited properties, that loads of people change their front doors and nobody has any oversight over whether they are fire-resistant, and, obviously, that puts other people, as well as themselves, at risk. So, that is something where it would be very useful if the Government could take prompt action on. 

I think there's also the point about the need to use the architect as the quality assurer, because the construction of buildings is such a complicated business these days, and unless you are on-site reasonably frequently, you simply have no idea whether the work is being done to the standards as specified in the contract. And once the first fix is completed, it is absolutely impossible to see whether a building is fire-safe or whether it's a fire hazard. And we had very good evidence from the fire service, who specifically spoke about a particular building where they'd had reason to have to pull apart what was behind the panels to find that it absolutely was a fire hazard. So, how many other high-rise buildings are in a similar state? We have to—. It is the role of Government to ensure that the regulations are adhered to and that people can reasonably assume that, if they are going to be living in a high-rise building, it is going to meet the regulations to enable them to escape in the event of a fire.