Councils denied cash for sprinklers in tower blocks

After the Grenfell Tower disaster the Communities Secretary Sajid Javid made a pledge: councils should make whatever housing improvements their local fire chiefs advised and if they couldn’t afford it his department would help. Just a month ago he was accused of claiming no councils had come forward for help. But we’ve been to just one of 30 local authorities who’ve asked for cash – Nottingham, which wants £6m to fit sprinklers into tower blocks. Sprinklers the local fire chief says are a “necessity”. But their request has got nowhere.