Kirklees tenants put at risk by 'unreliable' fire safety records

Kirklees Council has committed to spend almost £90m on safety improvements to its housing stock

Council tenants were put at risk due to unreliable record-keeping around fire safety, water hygiene and asbestos management, a report has said.

The findings were included in an independent review of Kirklees Council's fire safety compliance.

The authority, which took back control of more than 21,000 properties in March, has pledged to spend almost £90m on repairs and safety upgrades.

It said keeping tenants safe was its "highest priority".

The report was compiled by consultant Anthony Brown, of Darlington-based Robust Management Solutions (RMS), according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

'Inherent weaknesses'

Fire safety was flagged as the "primary risk" facing the authority as it brought management of its properties back in-house after almost 20 years.

Mr Brown said fire risk assessments (FRAs) were not being published for residents despite councils being told in August 2017 to do so by the Information Commissioner following the Grenfell Tower blaze.

He also underlined "a number of inherent weaknesses" around building safety compliance which exposed the council to breaches of regulatory standards.

As of March 2021 only 27% of FRA actions had been completed and 21,300 remained outstanding, he said.

Of those, 215 were a high priority and "present a high risk" and needed to be expedited "urgently" or mitigated by daily and weekly fire checks.

Kirklees has declined to release the review since it was completed in April

In March, Kirklees Homes & Neighbourhoods replaced Kirklees Neighbourhood Housing, an arms-length organisation, which had managed council properties since 2002.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service has repeatedly challenged Kirklees Council to release the fire safety compliance review which was completed in April and eventually acquired it through a leak.

The report highlights unreliable record-keeping, outdated IT systems and FRAs which did not include the details of who carried them out.

Mr Brown also found that data on asbestos was not widely accessible to the staff who needed it.

The report also said the housing department was not carrying out a programme of domestic Legionella Risk Assessments (LRAs), which presented "a high risk".

Kirklees Homes & Neighbourhoods manages 21,982 domestic properties, of which 21,700 are owned by Kirklees Council.

It also manages just over 1,000 leasehold properties.

'Huge efforts'

Cathy Scott, the council's Cabinet Member for Housing and Democracy, said the review had enabled the authority to "better understand the building safety issues".

"Keeping the council's tenants safe is our highest priority and it is reassuring to see the huge efforts already being made to drive forward the actions required as a result of the findings and recommendations in this review," she said.

The council has agreed to major safety improvements following the review, including demolishing two tower blocks at Berry Brow in Huddersfield, at a cost of £87m.

It will also need to hire new staff to deliver the programme, costing a further £1.9m.

The money will come from revenue generated by tenants' rents, the council said.

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