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Manchester Council considers sending out enforcement notices to private tower block owners
Manchester City Council is considering sending out formal enforcement notices to owners or managers of private tower blocks that have failed to provide any fire safety information on their buildings.
The council is working with Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service to gather information on all tower blocks across the city – both private and social – and is chasing fire safety information for 19 privately owned blocks where it has not heard back from the owners or property managers.
The council wrote to the owners and property managers of 215 privately owned buildings in November, with 12 of these buildings confirmed to have aluminium composite material cladding.
Bernard Priest, deputy leader of Manchester City Council, said the council and the fire service were “strongly urging” building owners to provide fire safety information for their blocks and this “may involve serving formal enforcement notices”.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has told councils to gather information from owners of private tower blocks, including the type of cladding, if any, that is on the blocks.
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However, Inside Housing recently revealed that a third of councils – 75 out of 223 to respond to a Freedom of Information Act request – do not have any information about private blocks in their area or what type of cladding is on the blocks.
In December a report to the Manchester City Council executive said a list of tower blocks it received from MHCLG was incomplete and did not match the records held by the fire service.
MHCLG has suggested that if building owners do not respond to a council’s request for information, or if they fail to have cladding tested, then the council should take enforcement action.
In the December executive meeting the council said the fire service advised the fire safety order regulations could be used to take enforcement action, but there are concerns that these powers are “not wide enough” to tackle all potential fire hazards.
Mr Priest said: “We have attempted to contact every private high-rise owner and/or building managers in the city to help provide an overview picture of fire safety in the city, and ensure residents are safe.
“The vast majority of building owners have responded positively and engaged with the process, and where work has been required this has been done quickly and efficiently with help from the fire service. Where information has not been forthcoming, we are working with the fire service to strongly urge them to engage with the process. This may involve serving formal enforcement notices.”
