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Grenfell forum must be set up ‘urgently’ to tackle inquiry recommendations, says firefighters’ union
The Fire Brigades Union has called for a forum to be established “urgently” to implement the recommendations from the Grenfell Tower Inquiry.
The union’s general secretary, Matt Wrack, wrote to a number of government ministers, shadow ministers and key organisations asking for an urgent meeting to discuss how to tackle the inquiry’s proposals.
The letter stated that the Grenfell fire, which killed 72 people, should be a “turning point in fire safety across the UK”.
Among the 46 recommendations from the first phase of the inquiry was a call to make it law for owners of all high-rise buildings to develop evacuation plans. The government has committed to implement the recommendations “in full” and provide funding.
Representatives of the groups Grenfell United and Justice for Grenfell are among those that have been sent the letter, and Mr Wrack called on tenant groups to be given a “voice in all these matters”.
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“All relevant parties should be represented to ensure the recommendations are realised,” Mr Wrack wrote. “We wish to ensure that the lessons to be learned from this first phase of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry are put into practice and set a precedent for action on the recommendations that will be made in phase two.”
Sir Martin Moore-Bick, the retired judge overseeing the inquiry, also concluded that aluminium composite material (ACM) cladding was the “primary cause” of the fire spreading.
However latest figures show that 318 buildings with ACM cladding are still yet to be remediated, nearly two-and-a-half years since the Grenfell tragedy.
Inside Housing last week relaunched its End Our Cladding Scandal campaign calling on the next government to take action to address the “national crisis” of dangerous cladding.
