Councillors call for fire alarm campaign
More awareness of the rules needed
West Lothian Council has called on the Scottish Government to back a national campaign to upgrade home fire alarm systems with the cash to help householders.
Councillors across the political divide have been questioned by constituents about the upgraded alarms.
The first that many people were aware of the changes was when trades began leafleting households with offers to install integrated smoke alarms systems in their homes.
The lack of public information and the fear that has been generated among households has been raised at several council committees.
Council leader Lawrence Fitzpatrick raised a motion before a meeting of the full council.
He said the biggest concern was the timescale for compliance – recently extended from February next year to February 2022, and the uncertainty of the legislation.
Councillor Fitzpatrick’s motion quoted a letter from Kevin Stewart, the Minister for Housing, which said: “Homes that don’t have the right alarms will clearly not be meeting the safety standards, but nobody will be breaking the law if they are not able to comply.”
The council’s main concern, said the motion, was “serious implications for insurance cover if owners, particularly in the instance of a claim do not meet the required standard and lack the funds to carry out works.”
Councillor Fitzpatrick urged Holyrood to develop a national information campaign to raise awareness of the rules which were introduced in the wake the Grenfell Tower tragedy.
The estimated cost of the new alarm systems is around £ 220 and the work had to be carried out by skilled electricians.
Councillor Fitzpatrick said this was a very low estimate and told the meeting “There is a need for clarity here.”
The SNP group challenged these assertions pointing to evidence that many alarm systems did not need to be hard-wired into properties.
“You can buy these systems in a shop,” said Councillor Diane Calder.
The SNP group raised an amendment defending the Scottish Government’s £15m of funding available for social landlords to procure and install the necessary alarms.
The amendment also noted that Holyrood has provided additional funding of £ 870,000 a year for the last two years to the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service to support their home safety visits.
The group called on the council to utilise its bulk buying ability to be able to offer equipment at cost price to homeowners.
The group also called
Serious implications for insurance cover if owners, in this instance of a claim, do not meet the required standard Lawrence Fitzpatrick
for a report on how the council can install these alarms for owners over 65 and/or vulnerable without additional cost adding: “This report is to outline how we could enhance the learning skills of our apprentices and offer security to owners that the council is a ‘trusted trader’ and mitigate against the opportunity for scammers/cowboys to prey on the house owners of West Lothian.”
The amendment was defeated by 19 votes to 10.