Telford bosses assure families on fire safety after Grenfell Tower fire

The Wrekin Housing Trust says it has no tower blocks to the height of Grenfell Tower, but following the blaze it has been doing all it can to improve safety and reassure residents.

The trust owns three blocks in Telford: Richards House eight storeys high; Apley Court, nine storeys high and the 12-storey Reynolds House.

It previously owned the currently uninhabited Manor Heights in Hadley but it was bought by a private company in March 2008.

Beverley Ashton, a spokeswoman for the WHT, said: “Whilst we have no tower blocks of the same height as Grenfell Tower, we have been liaising with the Fire Service since last week. We want to ensure our three tower blocks of eight 8, nine and 12 stories fire and safety procedures would mitigate the risk of a similar event happening at one of our blocks and provide reassurance to the residents of these blocks.

“On our behalf operational fire crews have visited each of our three blocks in the last few days to check out practicalities and to talk with residents to provide reassurance. It’s been fed back to us by the fire service that residents were pleased to see them and are happy with our management.

“On each block the trust already carries out an annual risk assessment, a monthly block inspection and a weekly test of alarm and emergency lighting. Our local teams are also going to be visiting every tenant personally over the next few weeks to remind of our fire safety procedures, and we will be re-issuing our fire safety leaflet.

“We can confirm that the trust’s tower blocks don’t have the same cladding type as used in Grenfell House: two of the trust blocks are brick and render, and the other is concrete which is insulated with rockwood insulation and render.

“The Government has confirmed that an investigation into the cause of the terrible fire at Grenfell will be carried out, and we will of course take on board any relevant findings and recommendations that come out of this investigation."

It comes as ministers said testing potentially flammable material from high-rise towers should be pursued “urgently” by councils.

Every cladding sample tested so far has failed fire safety tests, amounting to 60 high-rise buildings in 25 local authorities across the country, the Government said.

Amid signs the problem could escalate further, Housing Minister Alok Sharma called for samples to be submitted for examination quickly.

He further pushed for councils and landlords to take steps towards making the buildings in their care safe, even if results had not come back yet.

Concerns over fire safety triggered the mass evacuation of a north London estate on Friday, forcing thousands of residents from their homes.

The occupants of 600 flats on the Chalcots Estate were being moved into temporary accommodation, with officials warning they may not be able to return for up to a month while remedial work is carried out.

PM Theresa May was expected to be updated on the scale of the crisis yesterday.

when she chairs a meeting of the Grenfell Tower Recover Taskforce on Monday, Downing Street sources said.