As unsafe as houses

Workers must be prepared to fight for their own safety, not least in housing. Predictable risks of flooding and fire have been too often ignored.

Never rely on an employer or a property developer for safety. For example workers said, “don’t build houses on the flood plain” but developers couldn’t resist this route to a quick profit.

Over 100,000 homes in Britain have been built on flood plains in the last decade. They are at high risk of flooding and often uninsurable. And that’s set to continue under government plans.

“Predicted”

The Grenfell Tower fire inquiry report said that the fire risk from cladding had been “predicted” and therefore the tragedy could have been prevented. There is another fire risk, also in danger of being ignored. There is a new trend in London to build residential flats on top of underground electric (EV) bus garages.

Plans submitted for Edgware town centre in the London Borough of Barnet in 2024, by joint developers Ballymore and Transport for London, include a range of high rise tower blocks with over 3,300 new homes. Some of them would sit on top of a garage for up to 190 EV buses.

New fire risk

Local people under the banner of “Save our Edgware” have been opposing these development plans for a number of years due to the density of the development and its pressure on local services. They are now also concerned about fire risk.

‘Current guidance could be inadequate.’

A letter from London Fire Brigade last October says that that the potential fire risk from so many EV buses poses risks “not fully understood by the industry at this point in time”. LFB says that current guidance could prove “inadequate” in protecting the structural elements of the garage and the blocks of flats in the case of an EV bus fire.

The decision on the planning application will be made by the local council and they have stated that “issues of fire safety are of paramount importance and we take them very seriously. We remain in dialogue with London Fire Brigade”

Vigilant

If the local council takes the fire brigade’s advice seriously and turn down the application, local campaigners will need to be vigilant that the government does not overrule the local decision – as may happen under Angela Rayner’s announced planning reforms.