Council tenants have outlined the extent of fears about a lack of fire safety in their housing blocks - and are demanding the council dips into its savings to combat the problem.
Housing bosses faced a backlash from worried tenants at a meeting last week following a BBC expose that showed an appalling lack of valid fire safety inspections in tower blocks across the borough.
A Freedom of Information request showed just two of 112 tower blocks in the borough had valid certificates.
At the tenants council meeting on Thursday, red-faced housing bosses – including Lambeth Living chief executive Cathy Deplessis – could not name where both of the blocks were.
Angry tenants demanded the council and Lambeth Living, the council’s housing manager, put more resources into tackling fire safety issues.
They passed a resolution for the council to use some of an estimated £30m in capital funds to bring forward inspections of housing blocks, as well as invest in fire safety improvements.
Currently, blocks at most risk will be inspected by the end of the year, but inspections of some smaller blocks will not take place until March 2011.
Tenants listed the fire risks estates are facing, which include: poor quality maintenance and poor workmanship creating structural fire risks, faulty fire doors, Decent Homes improvements actually reducing fire safety, fire exits and corridors blocked by possessions such as bikes, prams, and fly-tipped waste such as mattresses, no enforcement of tenant fire safety breaches by housing staff, many blocks with one internal staircase only and a lack of housing staff to make fire inspections.
Housing officers spoke of a string of improvements that will be brought in to combat residents’ concerns.
Lambeth Living’s new director of housing management, Cedric Boston, said items blocking corridors and fire exits would be identified then confiscated if not removed within 24 hours.
Cathy Deplessis said cleaning staff and more frontline staff will be trained in fire safety so they can carry out daily to weekly inspections.
She said greater enforcement would also be made of breaches of tenancy agreements to do with fire safety.
Lambeth’s cabinet member for housing, Councillor Lib Peck, said the council would be looking into how it could bring fire safety inspections further forward.
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