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The Mayor of London has written to building owners asking them to draw up plans for personal emergency evacuation for disabled people living in unsafe blocks.
Personal emergency evacuation plans (PEEPs) were recommended after the Grenfell Tower Inquiry heard “about the barriers faced by residents with disabilities, which culminated in 41 per cent of disabled residents losing their life”, wrote Khan.
He wrote the letter as it was coming up to two years since the Grenfell Inquiry Phase 1 report and said he was writing to “remind you of the importance of urgent progress on its recommendations if we are to safeguard building safety and rebuild trust with residents”.
The report recommended that PEEPs should be provided by local authorities and social housing associations to assist those living in high-rises and unable to self-evacuate.
Khan wrote: “I am calling for PEEPs to be available in all buildings covered by the Fire Safety Order regardless of height and have written to the government recommending that its proposals are strengthened accordingly. This will require the government to commit funding to ensure that the cost of developing PEEPs does not fall onto the residents they are intended to protect. I await the government’s response to the consultation but in the interim, I ask all building owners to conduct PEEPs for residents that require them.”
He said he was “committed to ensuring that all the recommendations from the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 1 report are implemented in full by the organisations under my control, and I will do all in my power to ensure that other organisations do the same”.
The full letter can be viewed here.
