Following the fire at Grenfell Tower of June 2017, Wandsworth borough council (WBC) took a rushed, unilateral, decision that sprinklers should be fitted to all properties in blocks of 10 storeys or more without consultation and with urgency.
WBC initially tried to fast track a hearing through the First Tier Tribunal (FTT) to decide if the council has the legal right to implement their scheme. Since then WBC have backtracked and now say they will also wait for the recommendations of the Grenfell Tower enquiry which may not be published till 2021 as to whether or not to proceed.
Residents take fire safety extremely seriously and wish to support improvements in fire safety throughout the councils' properties. However the vast majority of residents fundamentally disagree and have major concerns to the specifics of the proposed scheme which fails to address a number of issues.
Frustratingly, due to WBC imposing a legal process, we are unable to collaborate with the council with ideas to improve their scheme with a more proportionate proposal without prejudicing the case. More importantly, due to how WBC has gone about it's proposal, residents in need will not have the protections sprinklers (fire suppressant water-based systems) afford for a number of years to come. A different process and proposal could well have seen residents who want this type of protection, across the borough, to have it already.