Cabinet members will be asked to approve £2.83m investment in improved fire safety across all 18,000 council houses when they meet on Wednesday 27 July.

All council properties are already fitted with smoke alarms. This investment will see additional alarms fitted to ensure there is one on every floor of every property where there is living space. This is in preparation for the new Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (Amendment) Regulations 2022.

There will also be additional carbon monoxide alarms installed at properties with fires and boilers. This won’t apply to properties which have gas cookers only.

Berneslai Homes, which manages the council-owned properties, will fit the additional alarms before October 1 2022.

Cllr Robert Frost, Cabinet Spokesperson for Regeneration and Culture, said: “All our properties already have smoke alarms, and Berneslai Homes had already begun installing additional alarms to cover multiple floors. We’re now asking Cabinet to approve this extra investment to accelerate this programme so we can complete it before October 1 when new regulations come into place.

“I encourage all tenants to work with Berneslai Homes to make sure their teams can access properties to complete this work as soon as possible.”   

Dan Crossley, Head of Repairs, Maintenance and Building Safety at Berneslai Homes, said: “Keeping tenants safe is our number one priority, so we welcome the additional investment to install these alarms which will help keep tenants safer in their homes.”