Reassurances over the safety of Huddersfield’s 11-storey tower block, Harold Wilson Court, have been demanded by the town’s MP, Barry Sheerman in the wake of the London fire disaster.

He has written to the chief executive of Kirklees Council, Jacqui Gedman, asking about the safety of the flats following the deaths of 17 people in Grenfell Tower, north Kensington.

Smoke billowing from the 24-storey Grenfell Tower in west London

Mr Sheerman said: “It is such an appalling tragedy and we have to ask how such a thing could occur in a modern, advanced country. We need to know what went wrong and an urgent inquiry needs to be held into what happened.

“I would like to know if there are any other high-rise flats up and down the country which are also at risk.”

The former Richmond Flats on Leeds Road close to Huddersfield town centre were recently refurbished under a £3.7m scheme and were renamed Harold Wilson Court.

Harold Wilson Court - formerly Richmond Flats - Southgate in Huddersfield.
Harold Wilson Court - formerly Richmond Flats - Southgate in Huddersfield.

West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service (WYFRS) has also issued advice and reassurance to people living in high-rise buildings, following the tragic fire yesterday (Wed).

Area Manager for Fire Safety, Chris Kirby, said: “Our thoughts are with all those affected by this horrific fire in London which is truly devastating.

“In West Yorkshire there are around 400 high-rise buildings, with six or more floors, and it’s understandable that people will be concerned if they are living, or have relatives living, in this type of premises.

“Fires of this severity are extremely rare however, we would like to issue some advice and reassurance.”

Barry Sheerman.

The service says high-rise buildings inherently create challenges to fire-fighting due to their design. Information on such premises is collected and West Yorkshire firefighters are trained and equipped to respond to fires in high-rise buildings.

The design of such buildings is that any internal fire within a high-rise should be contained to the flat where the fire started and the fire should not spread in the way that it did in London.

Such buildings do not necessarily require a communal fire alarm to conform to building regulations, but each individual flat would be expected to have smoke detection.

Calderdale Council is also looking into the safety of high-rise flats and council leader Clr Tim Swift said: “We understand that this incident may have raised concerns within our communities, and we are working with our local housing providers, such as Together Housing, to provide reassurance.

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