Agenda item

Martin Kerrigan, Fire Safety Assurance Manager:

a)    presented an update to Performance Scrutiny Committee on City of Lincoln Council’s (CoLC’s) current position regarding Fire Safety to the Housing stock including High Rise Tower Blocks, Supported Housing Schemes and Low Risk blocks only

b)    stated that the main legislation in terms of fire in England was ‘The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005’, that put a duty on the responsible person to undertake fire risk assessments and ensured general fire precautions were undertaken.

c)    highlighted that in addition, following the fire at Grenfell Tower in 2017 various new pieces of legislation came into force including ‘The Fire Safety Act 2021’, ‘The Fire Safety (England) Regulation 2022’ and ‘The Building Safety Act 2022’, with additional requirements for the responsible person (COLC) to undertake regarding fire safety 

d)    referred to the table at 4.3 of his report which outlined the current position regarding Fire Risk Assessments

e)    explained that:

·       The inspection of fire doors continued to ensure compliance with the Fire Safety (England) Regulations.

·       From the regulations there was a requirement for the communal fire doors within the high-rise blocks to be inspected on a quarterly basis and flat front doors to be inspected on an annual basis by best endeavours.

·       The inspections were being undertaken with communal doors next due for inspection in November 2024 and flat front doors next planned to be inspected in February 2025, with letters being sent out to residents for access.

f)      welcomed members comments and questions.

Question: Had all fire doors been located correctly?

Response: A lot of sites had ‘fit for purpose’ fire doors but a few weren’t certified. As part of the inspections, the size, depth, etc was assessed to ensure it was a fire door when it was originally installed.

Question: Were there officers trained for assessing fire doors?

Response: Yes, there were fully trained accredited officers to carry out assessments.

Question: Had all the cladding similar to Grenfell been changed?

Response: There was no flammable cladding on any tower blocks anymore.

Question: Would the position of the Technical Officer be recruited to?

Response: Officers provided assurance that the role had development opportunities. Agency staff were currently carrying out fire inspections, shadowing and mentoring until more permanent measures were put in place.

Question: Could noticeboards be put in the flats to show residents they’d been assessed?

Response: It wasn’t possible at the moment. The website was being reviewed but there were restrictions with the current website. Plans were being put in place to expand it and customers would then have access to when their fire door was last inspected and when the last fire risk assessment was carried out including any outstanding actions. There was a slight issue around flat front doors and leaseholders as technically they weren’t owned by the Council. Officers confirmed a report would be submitted to Performance Scrutiny Committee in 6 months on options going forward regarding leaseholders.

RESOLVED that:

a)    A report be submitted to Performance Scrutiny Committee in 6 months presenting the options going forward regarding inspection of flats owned by Leaseholders.

b)    The report be noted with thanks.