The Tenant Services Authority (TSA) has backtracked on its promise to deliver a national register of tower block fire safety.
Plans for a database holding information on fire safety measures in residential blocks were announced following the Lakanal House fire in July 2009, which killed six people. It would have held details on ownership, the number of properties and the age of each block, as well as dates for due risk assessments.
However, a statement from the TSA released on Friday said a review of regulation carried out by the Department of Communities and Local Government concluded that the TSA, which is due to be axed in April 2012, should adopt a "co-regulatory approach". This places the "emphasis and responsibility" on the housing provider to comply with TSA standards on matters such as fire safety. This arrangement was sufficient enough to go forward without the need for the register, it said.
“Against this background, we have taken the view that the TSA should no longer develop or coordinate a national register of tower blocks,” the statement read.
“We are satisfied that tenants’ interests are safeguarded through the current regulatory framework, the powers held by the statutory enforcement bodies, and the complementary powers of the TSA to deal with non compliance with the regulatory framework and the TSA standards,” the regulator said.
TSA to be scrapped by 2012
It follows the decision made by the coalition Government last month to abolish the TSA and move much of its responsibilities to a new, "streamlined" Housing and Communities Agency by April 2012, while scrapping tasks considered unnecessary by ministers such as "excessive data gathering".
A spokesman from the TSA could not confirm whether the decision to drop the register was down to government spending cuts.
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