On safety there should be no penny-pinching

Before last week’s tragedy at Grenfell Tower in west London, the issue of safety in multi-storey buildings was already a live one in Canterbury. Indeed, this newspaper was preparing to look hard at the subject not least for the fact that July 4 sees the second anniversary of the Tannery fire, one of the worst blazes the area has seen in recent years.

Add to this the fact that Town & Country Housing is well on the way with its rebuild of the buildings in Creine Mill Lane North and according to the exact specifications of the original block.

Shockingly, however, it has emerged this week that the firm decided to ignore Canterbury City Council’s recommendation to install sprinklers in the new structure.

It could only have done this for financial reasons thereby rubbishing its claim that the safety of its tenants is paramount.

Thanks to national building regulations, meanwhile, the council is powerless to force developers to install sprinklers as part of its planning permissions.

And in light of Grenfell Tower, this makes Cllr Michael Dixey’s proposal to shame developers into installing them all the more forceful.

The Tannery fire, which claimed no lives, is patently not on the same chart as the blaze in west London.

But even the Chief Fire Officer concedes that had it happened at 2am rather than 2pm, the consequences could have been far worse.

With tower blocks already existence in Herne Bay and Whitstable and smaller blocks springing up across Canterbury, those living in them are rightly worried.

Grenfell Tower shows that this is no time for pennypinching from companies who profit hugely from their developments.