Agenda item

The Chair introduced the report which updated members on the LGA’s building safety-related work since the last Board meeting.

The Chair introduced Georgia Goddard, who informed the board that since the last board meeting the Building Safety Bill had received Royal Assent, the Fire Safety Act had commenced and the LGA had continued to support remediation.

Georgia highlighted the following key points:

·       The DLUHC-led group Remediation Partners continued to work on a framework to support remediation across the country, alongside discussions with National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) to support a coordinated audit of risk within medium-rise residential buildings.

·       The Joint Inspection Team had secured funding for the next two years which would triple its capacity by the end of the financial year.

·       There were also a number of questions remaining over the Building Safety Act, particularly the provisions protecting leaseholders from the requirement to pay for remediation and concerns over whether the Act could leave councils liable for the costs of buildings on their land.

·       The funding for councils and NFCC to expand building control and fire service competence and capacity to meet the requirements of the new regime had been agreed at £41 million.

·       The commencement of the Fire Safety Act was followed by regulations implementing most of the recommendations made by phase one of the Grenfell Tower inquiry, which would come into effect January 2023. This does not include measures on PEEPs: the LGA is calling for appropriate guidance on this and working with the evacuation and fire safety working group on this issue.

·       The LGA is making progress in communicating to councils and schools risks around Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC).

Following the discussion, members made the following comments:

·       Members commented that there weren’t many local authority maintained schools but there would be a number of academies affected by Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) and asked how would this be addressed. Georgia responded that DfE (Department for Education) were in charge of academies, and they had received a 30% survey response rate from academies who were aware of RAAC.

·       Members commented if remediation costs were only covered for tenants who had not yet spent money on remediation, that would be unfair for those who had already paid towards costs. Georgia replied that residents who had already paid would not get their money back. Charles Loft, Senior Adviser added that the LGA is focusing on lobbying for the cost of remediation not to fall on the housing revenue account.

·       It would be vital that the responsible person for each building had a requirement to plan for evacuating disabled people; it would not be acceptable to fall back on the fire service.

Decision:

Members of the Safer and Stronger Communities Board noted the Building Safety update paper.