Issue - meetings

To receive the report of the Chief Planning Officer to provide members with an update on the outcome of Grenfell, the new Building Regulations and the Leeds response to this.

(Report attached)

The report of the Chief Planning Officer provided Members with an update on the outcome of Grenfell Tower tragedy, the new Building Regulations and the Leeds response.

David Pickles, Head of Building Control was at the meeting and spoke to the presentation which had been submitted as supplementary information to the report. The presentation had been published to the Council’s web pages and circulated to the Panel.

The presentation focused on the following points:-

·  Background information on Grenfell Tower;

·  Brief outline of Leeds City Council’s Building Control;

·  Investigations including:

o  The Police Investigation

o  The Coroners Report

o  The Public Inquiry

·  The Independent review of the Building Regulations and fire safety (The Hackett Review);

·  Leeds City Council Building Controls involvement in the Hackett Review;

·  The Building Regulation Part B and the guidance on external cladding;

·  The  Building Regulation B4;

·  DCLG clarification on 2006 Part B;

·  Leeds City Council Reporting;

·  Data on tower blocks in Leeds including those that had ACM and had failed the BRE testing;

·  The role of Planning;

·  The London Plan;

·  Leeds City Council’s Building Control continued role.

Members were advised that Building Control were still waiting answers nationally. A procedural hearing in relation to the Hackett Report was to take place on 11^th and 12^th December 2017 with the review expected to be completed by Spring 2018.

Members were concerned that they had been told that no tower blocks in Leeds had ACM.  The Head of Building Control said that no towers blocks owned by the Council had ACM. However, there were 10 blocks in Leeds with ACM which were privately owned, 8 of which were residential.

Members requested that they were provided with a list of the blocks with ACM.

Members discussed the following points:-

·  The work of Building Control in Leeds and with other authorities.

·  Cross service teams working to address works to be undertaken. It was noted where owners of buildings do not complete work required enforcement action would be taken.

·  There were concerns in relation to some Members not being aware of tower blocks in private ownership being unsafe. Although it was noted that there had been an Executive Board report in July.

·  Concerns were also raised that there could be smaller blocks with ACM cladding which fall out of the DCLG guidance of 18 metres.

It was noted that nothing specific had been provided in relation to toxicity testing. David Pickles said that he would take Members concerns on this matter to the Hackett Review.

The Chair suggested a working group on this paper.

RESOLVED – To note the report and the presentation