The leader of Milton Keynes Council Peter Marland has responded to reports by the Milton Keynes Citizen that Bletchley's Stephenson House is possibly 'the next Grenfell fire tragedy'.
The news story, which appeared on the local newspaper's front page today, has caused a serious amount of concern for both the residents and local community surrounding the Stephenson House building in Bletchley.
Despite declaring that the building could be 'the next Grenfell fire tragedy' in its headline, the Citizen failed to back-up this claim with any evidence other than a single fire enforcement notice.
Bucks Fire and Rescue have said this notice relates to an issue with oversensitive fire alarms, but that the building remains absolutely safe.
Speaking to MKFM's Greg Burnet, Leader of Milton Keynes Council Cllr Peter Marland, said he was seeking to "provide reassurance to residents that we are doing all we can to keep residents safe".
He added "I have spoken to the fire service and they are working closely with the owners of the building as well as the letting agent and the council. The Fire Service have told us that there is no reason to assume it is unsafe."
"With regards to the Fire Service notice, the work is being undertaken and this is to the satisfaction of Fire Service. The building Fire Alarm had been going off regularly which meant people had stopped evacuating."
"The notice is therefore in place to reconfigure the fire alarm. It is important but the work is being done and the Fire Service are happy it is being completed to their satisfaction."
"In terms of immediate safety, no one in the building should be feeling unsafe."
The article attracted some concern amongst local residents, with Richard Hubbard commenting on the MK Citizen Facebook page "Personally, I think your first few headline words are disrespectful to those tragic people who've lost everything at Grenfell."
"It's disrespectful to those who died, those who are still hospitalised, and those who are now homeless and have literally lost all they ever possessed."
"Please show more respect for the tragedy in any future article, especially the headlines."
You can listen to the full interview with Cllr Peter Marland here:
