Agenda item

Fire safety in tall buildings

Cycling strategy

Catford regeneration

Resolved: that the Chair of the Committee would write to the Chair of the Housing Select Committee to share the Members’ concerns about the involvement of registered housing providers in the Councils ongoing fire safety work.

3.1      Freddie Murray (SGM Property, Asset Strategy and Estates) introduced the response from Mayor and Cabinet, the following key points were noted:

·         The response addressed the three requests made in the Committee’s referral, which included: a list of tall buildings in the borough; a list of Council responsibilities for building control activities in relation to approvals it had given; additional information about technical and expert advice for committee decision making.

·         A list had been provided, which was still being updated and improved. The list of buildings was split in to three: Council/Lewisham Homes residential buildings; those owned by registered providers’ and; privately owned buildings. Work was also taking place to update the list of other public buildings and none residential buildings, such as the hospital as well as commercial buildings in the borough.

·         Key building control actions had been added to the list and where possible, key dates had been included. However, this work was ongoing.

·         Getting information on some buildings, particularly those which were privately owned was a challenge.

·         Information had been included about the Council’s approach to building control approval and monitoring.

·         The approach to building control varied depending on the scale and type of the development. There was no single list of actions carried out by the Council’s building control team.

·         The checks carried out by the Council’s building control team were generally over and above those provided by the private sector.

·         Fire safety fell under the building regulations regime, rather than planning. However, it was likely that new measures would be brought in to make fire safety a greater consideration in planning.

3.2      Freddie Murray responded to questions from the Committee, the following key points were noted:

·         The activities of registered housing providers were overseen by the Homes and Communities Agency. The Council had no powers of sanction against providers who would not provide information.

·         The Council was working at a senior level to engage with registered providers in order to gather information.

·         It was likely that major changes would be made to the building regulations as a result of the Grenfell Tower inquiry. Some powers had been lost as part of previous changes to the regulations.

·         There might be a role for the Council to remind all registered providers and private owners about expectations in relation to fire safety.

·         Current work with partners focused on information gathering and sharing.

3.3       In the Committee discussion, the following key points were also noted:

·         It was important that the information had been made openly available. It would help to reassure the community that there was integrity in the Council’s processes.

·         There were concerns about the lack of engagement from some registered housing providers.

3.4      Resolved: that the Chair of the Committee would write to the Chair of the Housing Select Committee to share the Members’ concerns about the involvement of registered housing providers in the Councils ongoing fire safety work.