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The government has caused outrage after announcing that it would not implement measures – recommended by the Grenfell Tower Inquiry – that would have ensured disabled people could safely evacuate high-rise blocks of flats in emergencies. The inquiry had recommended that […]
The government has agreed that its new building safety regulator will carry out an assessment of how disabled people can safely evacuate from high-rise buildings. The proposal was included in the government’s new building safety bill as it finished its progress […]
A government agency has announced that it will spend £15 million helping to fund more than 1,000 new family homes across three English counties, but not one of them will have to be suitable for a wheelchair-user to live in. Homes […]
Disabled campaigners say they are “horrified” and “sickened” by the government’s “unconscionable” refusal to ensure that disabled people living in high-rise buildings have the right to a personal emergency evacuation plan (PEEP). Fire minister Lord [Stephen] Greenhalgh told fellow peers on […]
A senior civil servant has told the Grenfell inquiry that the government probably “forgot” to seek disabled people’s views on how residents with physical impairments could evacuate tower blocks in an emergency, six years before the devastating fire. Brian Martin, who […]
The government repeatedly failed to seek the views of disabled people and their organisations about how residents with physical impairments could evacuate tower blocks in an emergency, six years before the Grenfell Tower disaster. Louise Upton, who was head of fire […]
Two disabled peers have warned the government that disabled people living in high-rise flats will again be forgotten – five years on from the Grenfell disaster – if its building safety bill fails to make their need for protection explicitly clear. […]
Disabled campaigners have launched legal action over the government’s decision to award a crucial fire safety contract to consultants who have repeatedly argued against introducing written evacuation plans for disabled residents of tower blocks. Claddag, a leaseholder action group led by […]
A woman who has been forced to live with her disabled daughter in an inaccessible hostel for more than three years says she can see no end to their ordeal, despite an ombudsman ruling that her local council had caused them […]
Disabled activists are “shocked and outraged” at the government’s decision to commission fire safety guidance from a company that produced a “discriminatory” and “discredited” policy on evacuating disabled people that was in place at the time of the Grenfell tragedy. Consultants […]