Meeting documents

To consider the attached report.

Contact Officer:  Will Rysdale (01296) 585561

After the events of the Grenfell Tower disaster, a report was distributed ahead of the meeting to update Members in regard to the fire safety management of buildings managed or owned by AVDC. Outlined were the actions that have been taken by the Council to mitigate the risk of any similar disaster occurring and also how compliance with the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 had been demonstrated.

A Grenfell Response Board had been established to discuss any Government guidance issued as a result of the disaster and to examine existing risk profiles across the Council’s property portfolio. These Board Members had met on 3 July, chaired by AVDC’s Chief Executive, Andrew Grant, and were scheduled to continue meeting on a regular basis. A review by the Corporate Health and Safety Manager on All Fire Safety Risk Assessments and Fire Safety Management Plans for properties managed by the Council had been carried out. In addition, Fire Safety Management Plans and Fire Safety Risk Assessments were obtained from Tenants of commercial properties owned by the Council but self-managed for review.

It was found that Griffin Place was the only residential property owned by AVDC. The property, which provided emergency accommodation to the homeless and was managed by Bromford Housing Association, did not contain ACM type cladding, was less than 18 meters tall and recently had met relevant fire regulations. AVDC did not hold any social housing stock, instead the council was working with local Registered Providers and Housing Associations to identify residential tower blocks that they owned and/or managed within Aylesbury Vale which contained ACM cladding. Friars House had also found a failure with its cladding and investigation was still ongoing to determine the responsible leaseholder. This was expected to be resolved in due course.

Members discussed the report and were advised that:-

      i.        Sprinklers were not a requirement in legislation at Friars House as they were required for buildings built from 2007 onwards and over 30metres high. However Bucks Fire and Rescue were happy with the current fire safety arrangements at Friars House.

     ii.        There were statutory powers to carry out the work and invoice later, however Central Government had advised AVDC to contact them if leaseholders had proven difficult. AVDC had a tiered approach when contacting leaseholders depending on the Category.

    iii.        AVDC had an excellent working relationship with its partners with messages and queries being answered quickly. This was attributed to the common understanding of how severe any potential fire safety issue would be.

   iv.        Investigations were still ongoing regarding cladding design.

    v.        There was the potential to sell AVDC’s experience to other authorities on a consultancy basis in future, however the present focus was on completing the current work.

   vi.        Reasonable timeframes were given to leaseholders to respond to before more formal instruction and form completion notices were submitted. The preferred option would be to do the work and bill afterwards rather than prosecute leaseholder inaction.

  vii.        Clarity was needed on whether or not AVDC was liable if there was an incident on a VAHT property due to Member representation on their Board. (This was followed up after the meeting and the Monitoring Officer confirmed AVDC would not be liable).

 viii.        Instructions to stay put in a fire in a residential building depended on the property. The commercial building policy was always to evacuate.

   ix.        HMO Licenses contained fire safety requirements but residents that had concerns would be responded to accordingly.

Members also acknowledged how quickly the situation would change as the safety review progressed and agreed that an update should be reported back to Committee in future.

RESOLVED –

That the Committee report be noted.