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£28m announced for Grenfell relief but no new fire safety funding
The chancellor has announced £28m of extra funding for Kensington and Chelsea to help deal with the fallout from Grenfell, but provided no new funding for general fire safety measures.
At the Autumn Budget today, Philip Hammond said the Grenfell Tower fire, in which at least 71 people died in June, was a “tragedy that should never have happened”.
The new cash for Kensington and Chelsea will go to mental health and counselling services, the regeneration of the surrounding area and a new space for the community.
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But Mr Hammond resisted calls from the Labour Party to announce funding to retrofit sprinklers in high rises – stopping only at repeating a promise to help social landlords who could not pay for “essential” work.
He said: “This tragedy should never have happened and we must ensure that nothing like it ever happens again.
“Local authorities and housing associations must carry out any identified fire safety work as soon as possible… If any local authorities can’t access funding to pay for essential fire safety work they should contact us immediately.
“We will not allow financial constraints to get in the way of any essential fire safety works.”
Alok Sharma, the housing minister, has previously refused to provide funding for sprinklers calling them “additional not essential”.
Inside Housing’s Never Again campaign has been calling for the government to fund sprinkler retrofitting since June.
This story will be updated.
