Leeds to cut other investments to pay for sprinklers

Leeds City Council says it will be forced to cut other parts of its investment programme to pay for fire safety measures on high rise housing blocks after a request for assistance was turned down by central government. The council says sprinkler systems across its 116 social and sheltered housing blocks will cost £32m.
However, a report to councillors by Phillip Charlton, investment strategy manager of property and contracts at the council, said: “We wrote to the government in January 2018 to request funding to support the increased costs in our fire safety programme, particularly in relation to sprinklers. This was declined, as the installation of sprinklers was considered non-essential. There will therefore likely be an adverse effect on other parts of our investment plan, as we divert more funding to the fire safety programme.”