Assembly calls for funding to ensure Grenfell safety legacy

The London Assembly has backed calls by the London Fire Brigade (LFB) to ensure funding is provided to carry out the recommendations made by the Grenfell Tower Inquiry (GTI) Phase 2 report.

In a letter published today, the Assembly Fire Committee asks the Mayor to ensure that the LFB has the resources it needs to undertake the regulatory work required of it, through his budget and his work with the government.

At a meeting of the Fire Committee in September, LFB Commissioner Andy Roe endorsed the GTI Phase 2 report’s recommendation to set up a College of Fire and Rescue to provide expert training and for work to fix fire safety issues in high-rise buildings to be completed as soon as possible.

Chair of the London Assembly Fire Committee, Hina Bokhari AM, said:

“The recommendations of the GTI are critically important to Londoners, with 60 per cent of the 3,280 high and medium rise buildings with unsafe cladding across England in the capital.

“But the measures will only be effective if fire and rescue services, and those responsible for fixing fire safety issues, have the money they need.

“That includes proper funding to enforce any new regulations, so that anyone failing to implement the lessons of the Grenfell Tragedy is held to account and compelled to take action to protect the public.

“It is encouraging that the Deputy Mayor for Fire has raised the issue of funding with the government. We hope that the Mayor continues to make that case to the government and supports LFB funding requests to meet the recommendations of the GTI as part of his budget process.”

In its letter, the Committee also highlights the need for funding to support the government’s plan to introduce personal emergency evacuation plans (PEEPs) for vulnerable residents of high-rise buildings, as recommended in the GTI Phase 1 report, which falls outside the LFB’s responsibilities.