Action agreed at Greater Manchester Mayor's high rise fire safety summit

Following a summit on fire safety in high rise buildings, the Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham said: Today I have met with Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service, social landlords and local authorities from across Greater Manchester.

“We began by sending our profound sympathies to all those affected by the tragic Grenfell Tower fire and praising the outstanding work of the London emergency services.

“To reassure residents here in Greater Manchester, we agreed three key actions:

“First, landlords of high-rise residential buildings should review and urgently reissue fire safety advice to residents and those at the meeting agreed to do so. Each block is different and blanket advice will not work. Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service will work with landlords across Greater Manchester to ensure the right advice is in place.

“Second, I have established a task force that will work across the whole of Greater Manchester, building by building, to provide fire safety reassurance. This task force will be led by Salford City-Mayor Paul Dennett and will work with the Fire and Rescue Service, Local Authorities and landlords to get us to a point where we can assure all residents their homes are safe, as quickly as possible.

“Finally, we will draw on the task force process to inform a Greater Manchester response to the national public enquiry into the fire at Grenfell Tower. This will look at a wide range of issues but importantly will assess the level of resource that the Fire and Rescue Service has following the cuts of recent years.”