Eldon Court Leeds evacuated: Students told to leave housing block over 'risk to life' fire concerns

A prohibition notice has been issued for Eldon Court, on the corner of Woodhouse Lane and St Marks Road, following a West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service (WYFRS) investigation – which found serious fire risks in the privately-owned block.

Up to 300 students were told to immediately leave their homes at 8pm yesterday and were found emergency accommodation in student halls.

WYFRS Deputy Chief Fire Officer, Dave Walton, said: “The decision to take this action has not been taken lightly, especially given the resultant upheaval it has caused for many people. We had no choice but to act in this way after our investigations highlighted serious concerns and risk to life.

“We were called in after a survey of the building revealed several potential fire risks. The risks were so serious that it would have been dangerous to allow people to continue to stay in the building once these were identified.”

He added that emergency planning services held a meeting with the local universities that had students living in the accommodation block – which is managed independently. All tenants, including 69 University of Leeds students and 12 Leeds Beckett University students, were offered emergency accommodation overnight.

“It is our duty as the enforcing agency to ensure the safety of our residents is paramount,” DCFO Walton added. “We only serve notice where the risk to people’s life is so serious that we must prohibit or restrict the use of all, or part of the premises until specified matters have been remedied.”

In a joint statement, the University of Leeds and Leeds Beckett University said their staff had worked together “throughout the night” to house the students in university accommodation.

A spokesperson said: “Our residence teams worked together throughout the night to make sure all students were settled in university accommodation. The safety and wellbeing our of our students remains our top priority, and we will ensure they continue to have access to secure and safe accommodation for as long as required.”