SKDC leader Coun Ashley Baxter says council tenants wellbeing is priority

The publication of the Grenfell Report earlier this week was disturbing and heart-breaking but, after seven years of media coverage, sadly not surprising.

As Leader of South Kesteven District Council, I was especially struck by two of the early comments from the report: the first was a reference to an “attitude of complacency”; the second was comment from a panel member about an organisation’s “failure to treat residents as people”.

The wellbeing and safety of our tenants is a fundamental priority for our Independent-led administration at South Kesteven District Council.

In the wake of the Grenfell report being published, we would like to reassure tenants that we do all we can to ensure our properties comply with the regulations.

We do have certain responsibilities with regard to the safety of our buildings in South Kesteven. The Council has a dedicated team which takes social housing compliance most seriously.

As Leader of the Council I attend monthly monitoring meetings with the Director of Housing, the Chief Executive and the Cabinet Member for Housing.

Our most recent Fire Risk Assessment, Legionella, Asbestos re-inspection and Lift Inspections remained at 100% (June reporting). Electrical figures were at 91.89% while June’s figures for Gas inspections showed 98.21% compliance.

Our compliance figures under the current administration have continued to improve as we have completed actions ordered by the Housing Regulator, building on work started under the previous administration.

We encourage all our tenants to allow access to their homes, when requested, so that we can ensure their homes are safe.

Alongside changes made to the Building Control process since the tragedy, we feel we make a valuable contribution to people’s safety in their homes.

We will review all of the recommendations contained within the Grenfell report, and react where necessary to continue to improve our systems and processes across our council housing, and indeed all council buildings. We want to keep people safe.