Sadiq Khan calls for building safety and strategies for new homes to be separate after 'horrors of Grenfell'
The Mayor of London has said he would like building safety measures and strategies to deliver new homes being considered separately following the horrific Grenfell Tower fire. Sir Sadiq Khan has called for rules on suitable land for delivering homes in the capital being relaxed, but agreed the 'horrors of Grenfell' were a clear consequence of deregulation in building safety standards.
He also noted that Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner said on February 26 that the government was acting on all of the findings cited in the Grenfell Tower Inquiry. She claimed reforms to the current safety system for buildings were being driven to prevent the possibility of a similar tragedy in the future.
The Mayor told MyLondon: "I think we have to be really careful to desegregate building safety, [Grenfell being] one of the horrors of the consequences of deregulation, and making it easier to get permission to build homes. In fact, what you've seen this week is the Deputy Prime Minister announcing a building safety regulator, setting out how we're going to make sure buildings going forward are safer."
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He added: "The London Plan already is the tightest in terms of planning across the country. We already were talking about the importance of there being sprinklers on all new buildings, second staircases in buildings above a certain height and so forth.
"So that's strengthened up in relation to a building safety regulator making homes safer. But secondly, I think we should make it easier to have homes being given permission to be built."
The remarks were made during the launch event for the London Growth Plan at Imperial College London on February 27. The plan stated that upgrades to London's transport network, such as the DLR extension to Thamesmead and Bakerloo line extension, will unlock new opportunities to build affordable homes in the city.
Sir Sadiq told MyLondon that he wants to see relaxed regulations for delivering homes on brownfield sites. He added that he was happy to see revisions being made by the government to the National Planning Policy Framework to allow such homes to be built.
He said: "They have got to be the right sorts of homes and I think all the noises I've heard and the conversations I've had with both Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves gives me confidence that developers will have confidence to build in London, but also because the London Plan will make sure that they are right sorts of homes, genuinely affordable homes."
Chancellor Rachel Reeves had previously said she wants to 'rip out' any blockages in the current planning system to promote economic growth. However, she was pressed by the Mirror in January about the role deregulation had on the Grenfell Tower fire and said she and the Prime Minister had made commitments to victims' families to 'learn lessons' from what had happened.
London Fire Brigade (LFB) revealed at a City Hall meeting in January that as of December last year, 1,329 buildings in the city had fire safety issues such as dangerous cladding, requiring them to have a simultaneous evacuation strategy in place. Andy Roe KFSM, commissioner of LFB, said he would like to see legislation changed to place a greater burden of responsibility on developers to uphold fire safety standards.
Have a story you want to share? Email joseph.coughlan@reachplc.com.
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