THE GREAT EVACUATION
Thousands may need to move out after 600 towers across UK are revealed to have deadly panels
THOUSANDS of people may have to be evacuated from deathtrap tower blocks after tests showed they are clad in flammable material.
Councils were braced for what could be one of Britain’s biggest peacetime evacuations after the tests confirmed cladding blamed for the devastating Grenfell Tower blaze has been fitted to other blocks across the country.
Downing Street said 600 tower blocks in England have been fitted with cladding of some sort. Tests finally began yesterday.
In a letter to MPs last night, Communities Secretary Sajid Javid said 11 tower blocks in eight local authority areas had been found to be fitted with flammable cladding. The blocks are in local authority areas including Camden, in London, Manchester and Plymouth.
But the remaining tests will take at least a week to complete, leaving tens of thousands of people living in fear.
In Scotland, council chiefs and social landlords in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee and Aberdeen insisted no tower blocks under their control have the same Celotex RS500 cladding as Grenfell Tower.
Other Scottish local authorities said materials used meet the ‘highest safety standards’ and regular inspections are carried out.
But a ministerial working group has been set up by Communities Secretary Angela Constance to collate information about materials used for high-rise towers.
Yesterday, she said: ‘We are working intensively with local authorities to complete the picture for all high-rise domestic buildings.’
Theresa May told MPs councils would be expected to find alternative accommodation for those in death-trap blocks, saying: ‘We cannot and will not ask people to live in unsafe homes.’
She added: ‘I know many others living in tall residential buildings will have concerns about their safety after what happened at Grenfell.’
But there was confusion last night after the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) issued advice to councils saying residents could remain in their homes while the cladding is removed, provided ‘mitigating measures’ are taken, such as banning barbecues on balconies.
Terrified residents in affected blocks said they could not sleep for fear of being caught in a repeat of the Grenfell blaze. In other developments: London Mayor Sadiq Khan demanded the resignation of local Tory council leader Nicholas Paget-Brown, saying there was ‘no confidence at all’ in him.
The PM pledged criminal action if the law had been broken, saying: ‘There will be nowhere for any guilty parties to hide.’
It emerged that Grenfell victims were treated for cyanide poisoning – believed to have come from burning insulation panels.
Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith called for ‘incredibly badly designed’ blocks to be pulled down, with residents re-homed in ‘more family-friendly housing’.
Speaking in the Commons, Mrs May repeated her admission that the initial response to the Grenfell disaster was ‘not good enough’. But ministers were facing questions yesterday about why it took eight days to begin testing to see if other tower blocks are fitted with potentially deadly cladding.
Mr Khan said: ‘I have been calling for eight days now for maximum transparency.
‘From the very first task force meeting I attended I said we have got to provide the reassurance that people need because, not unreasonably, if you live in a tower block you are worried. If you have got friends and family who live in a tower block you are worried.’
Three high-rise tower blocks in Devon have been found to be clad in the same combustible material as Grenfell Tower. Occupants of the 16-storey Lynher, Tamar and Tavy buildings in Plymouth were told of the potential fire risk yesterday. The council said the towers would be monitored around the clock by fire safety teams.
Meanwhile, it emerged yesterday that at least three victims of the Grenfell Tower inferno were treated with an antidote for cyanide poisoning after inhaling deadly fumes from the fire.
King’s College Hospital said three of the 12 patients it received were treated with the hydrogen cyanide antidote Cyanokit.
The news appeared to confirm fears that insulation boards fitted to the exterior of the 24-storey tower block emitted the highly toxic gas when set alight.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said the Government had to fund safety work and evacuations.
He told MPs: ‘This is a massive undertaking and a huge focus of Government resources will have to go into it.’
Mr Corbyn added that the public inquiry ordered by the Government must identify those who ‘let down [Grenfell residents] both in the immediate aftermath and so cruelly beforehand’.
The Government was unable to say how many privately owned tower blocks or office buildings may also be affected.
Birmingham City Council leader John Clancy said the city’s 213 blocks would get sprinkler systems at a cost of up to £31million – regardless of whether the Government will pay.
‘We won’t ask them to live in unsafe homes’