Camden Council caused potential harm over fire safety failings - report

Camden Council caused "serious detriment" and "potential harm" to its tenants by failing to undertake fire safety work, the regulator says.

The investigation by the government's Regulator of Social Housing found Camden Council had more than 9,000 overdue fire remedial actions, including 400 that were "high-risk".

It has now formally issued a notice to the council to improve performance.

Camden Council's leader said it is "taking this notice very seriously".

The regulator began its review after the council was fined £500,000 in a court case brought by London Fire Brigade over a fatal fire in Hampstead, north London, in November 2017.

Fire risk assessments at the building in January 2013 and May 2017 found serious risks, including combustible wooden cladding on the internal staircase and a lack of proper fire doors on flat entrances, but the council had not put the problems right despite them being on its list.

The report explained the regulator wanted to "understand whether the fire safety failings demonstrated by this case had been resolved and whether the London Borough of Camden was compliant with our regulatory standards".

As part of their work, the regulator reviewed a 2019 internal audit of fire safety which showed the council had done fire risk assessments for 3,200 housing blocks which needed one and the council had improved reporting and governance arrangements for fire safety and assessments.

However, when investigators looked at more recent action by the council, they discovered 9,000 remedial actions were yet to be undertaken and 1,500 of these had been on a list of works to be completed since 2020.

These included 400 high-risk overdue actions, in spite of a timetable which outlined a third should have been completed within 10 days, and the rest within a month.

The report also criticised the council for a "potential breach" of Home Standard regulations for not having at least one smoke alarm fitted on each storey with living accommodation and at least one carbon monoxide detector in rooms with a fixed combustion appliance.

The regulator said the council reported "9,000 properties do not have a hard-wired smoke alarm installed and just under 4,000 properties do not have a carbon monoxide detector installed".

The report said: "Taking into account the outcome of the fire in 2017, the findings of the internal audit in 2019 and the current fire safety position, the evidence demonstrates a longstanding failure by London Borough of Camden to complete all fire safety remedial actions in a timely manner, and to mitigate the risks to tenants in the meantime.

"As a consequence, tenants have been, and continue to be, exposed to potential harm."

Kate Dodsworth from the Regulator of Social Housing said: "Camden Council has failed to address thousands of fire safety actions in its tenants' homes.

"This is unacceptable and has put tenants at potential risk of harm.

"The council needs to act urgently to put things right, and we will scrutinise it closely as it does this."

Georgia Gould, leader of Camden Council, said: "There is nothing more important than the safety of our residents and we are taking this notice very seriously."

She added a programme of work "is in place for delivery this year and next" and would not "be content until every action is complete".

"We recognise that many of the remaining actions outlined by the Regulator are difficult for residents, such as the removal of security grilles," she added.

"We will be working alongside residents to complete these. "

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