The report by Judith Hackitt (Building regulations open to abuse – Grenfell review, 19 December) highlights the “mindset of doing things as cheaply as possible and passing on responsibility for problems and shortcomings”. One longstanding and illogical result of this is the Thatcher government’s decision to introduce competition into building control.
This was, and remains, the only regulatory function of local government to be subjected to competition. It was originally done as part of a deal by Michael Heseltine with Tory councillors who objected to his suggestions for the private sector to take control of planning decisions. Since then, despite frequent pleas from the Local Government Association (I was its spokesperson on building control) there has been no level playing field. The private sector recruits people who have been trained at public expense, and cherrypicks the most lucrative schemes, while leaving the rest to councils – who of course pick up the tab for enforcement.
Few MPs even realise this has been going on, and many are appalled when they find out. A fair deal is well overdue.
Peter Kent
Crewe
• Dame Judith Hackitt’s interim review of regulations lays out in detail what many of us learned from the fire at Lakanal House in 2009. Her report reinforces the need for the public inquiry to ask why the lessons from the Lakanal inquest didn’t lead to significant changes in the guidance prior to the Grenfell Tower fire. There was clearly time, and many of the experts giving evidence to Hackitt also spoke up prior to Grenfell. Did an ideological aversion to “red tape” get in the way of ministers listening to those voices, and will the inquiry dare to put the government in the dock for any failures?
Jenny Jones
Green party, House of Lords
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