Let us know about Lambeth High Rise Horrors, say Lib Dems

8.14.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Wed 7th Oct 2009

Lambeth's Liberal Democrat Opposition Leader Cllr Ashley Lumsden has called on Tenants and Leaseholders to let him know about examples of serious fire safety lapses in the borough's high-rise housing stock.

The Lib Dem Leader has made the appeal directly in the wake of the recent BBC exposé that a shocking 110 out of 112 high-rise homes in Lambeth owned by the Council did not have mandatory fire-risk assessments. In a follow-up story the BBC discovered that Lambeth had no idea which of its properties were even considered High Risk.

Cllr Lumsden has described the Labour-run Council's response to such a damning report as scandalously indifferent to matters of basic fire safety. He is taking up the issue formally at the next Full Council Meeting on 21st October.

But because the Council and its ALMO partner Lambeth Living have shown no rigour in applying the Fire Risk Assessments he now wants tenants and leaseholder leaders and the tenants and leaseholders themselves to send him examples of existing fire hazards.

The BBC carried out a check with a fire prevention expert on a tower block in another borough and found the following failings:

• No fire resistance between flats and lifts - during a fire residents would be trapped as smoke and fire spread with the lift shaft acting as a chimney.

• A padlock on one fire escape and no release bar on another. It took the expert several minutes to work out how to open it. * Emergency lighting by the escape removed - residents could face opening it in darkness.

• Holes bored through ceilings for cables wide enough to allow flame to pass, accelerating fire spread.

• A section of floor smashed through following a water leak fire proofed with plastic bag

• Fireman's entry switch broken, denying emergency services access to the block.

Cllr Lumsden said, "This Labour-run Council thinks it is fine to leave these vital fire safety checks until March or April next year on tower blocks and on other blocks until March or April 2011, so I am making it quite clear that I do not think this is even remotely acceptable. These checks were made mandatory in 2006. Because I have no faith that the job will be done either quickly or thoroughly I'm asking the people that matter, the people living in these blocks and who are most at risk, to send me details with photos if they can, so that we have evidence of the current situation."

Cllr Lumsden warned, "Contrary to Lambeth's laid-back assertions, there is a real need for urgency here as we are less than a month away from November 5th which always sees a peak in fire-related activity and crime."