BAN BARBECUES ON THE BALCONY

RESIDENTS must be banned from having barbecues on balconies in any tower blocks with danger cladding, local councils were told yesterday.

And underground car parks must be cleared and closed if there is a risk that a vehicle fire could spread to cladding.

The emergency fire instuctions apply to any building where the cladding is unlikely to comply with fire regulations.

In the case of the most serious risk, councils must consider moving all residents out of the block until remedial work has been done. Councils received the instructions in a dramatic letter from Melanie Dawes, the permanent secretary at the Department for Communities and Local Government, who said the measures should be undertaken ‘pending replacement of the cladding’.

Other instructions to councils on the check-list of ‘mitigating measures’ include: Making sure that at ground level, or on balconies, there are no combustible materials; replacing any non- fireresisting doors immediately; providing a temporary communal fire alarm system; providing a fire watch by trained security officers or wardens.