Government told ‘cough up’ and fund £30m post-Grenfell safety work on Leeds tower blocks

Leeds City Council is expected to spend around £30m on ongoing work to install sprinklers in dozens of blocks of flats around the city, and members of an influential scrutiny board believe central government should be responsible for funding it.

The comments come as the results of a public inquiry into the 2017 Grenfell Tower tragedy are expected to be published imminently.

Deputy leader of Leeds City Council Debra Coupar (Lab) told the committee: “As an authority, cross-party, we have dealt with the aftermath of Grenfell, and any impact that may have had on Leeds, in an extraordinary way. We have worked together to make sure our tenants and residents are as safe as they possibly can be.

“We have written on several occasions as a local authority to government to request support and assistance on funding, in particular with sprinklers.

“We have a larger number of multi storeys than others, and it will cost around £30m to make sure all our blocks are covered with sprinklers.

“It is down to government to fund such a change in housing need and requirement in the country.

“I would encourage scrutiny to write again and do a joint letter to government.”

“The national report on Grenfell is imminently due to be published, and I hope that will put some responsibility on national government to make sure buildings are covered by sprinklers which do save lives.”

Senior council officer Neil Evans said: “We didn’t have any buildings which used the type of material that was used in the Grenfell case – on that basis we didn’t qualify for funding.

“We have written about the sprinkler position.

“We are satisfied what we have in place will prevent fire spreading in blocks. People should not be concerned that if a fire starts in a flat, it will spread across the building. We have had many fires since Grenfell and they have been contained in individual flats.”

He did suggest that, without sprinklers, vulnerable individuals could be at risk without sprinkler systems should a fire start in their own flat.

He added: “There is a strong case for introducing sprinklers. We do house vulnerable people and it is those who are vulnerable and with disabilities who are most at risk.”

The meeting heard that sprinklers will have been added to 21 blocks by the end of the financial year, with another 25 blocks covered over the next three years.

Mr Evans concluded: “This comes at a cost, and we would want support from the government to help us with what we think is important to protect individuals.”

Coun Peter Gruen (Lab) added: “Tenants’ fears across the country were raised when that tragedy happened.

“A responsible council can’t say ‘we’ll do nothing until we get money from government’ – and this local authority, to its credit, did the opposite. There are times when government has to cough up.

“In this instance it is a fair case, and we should not let them off the hook.”

Coun Asghar Khan (Lab) said: “I am a bit disappointed with the government not funding these deprived areas.

“The residents do not have the funding, and it is good for the council to do this.”

Coun Javaid Akhtar (Lab) added: “It’s not only the elderly members of our community who are vulnerable, but there are young children living on high floors of these blocks.

“God forbid there was a fire, it could be life threatening.”

The committee then agreed to write to government calling for funding to help with the work.