Cherrydown flats: Fire patrols 'too expensive'

Last April Essex Fire Service ordered that a “walk around alarm system” be introduced at Basildon’s Morello Quarter within one month, after a 2020 safety inspection report found the flats, in Cherrydown East, had features which posed a "high risk to life." This would mean a member of staff patrolling the corridors and exteriors at all times, in case a fire broke out, until a new alarm system could be installed.

The patrols would have to stay in place until new alarms and a fire evacuation plan were introduced. However, the residents’ management company has successfully argued that the time limit was unreasonable, and the costs were financially impossible for it to support.

Ian Seeley, of Ellisons Solicitors who represented Cherrydown Management Limited, said:

“While the management company agreed that the principle behind the requirement for a waking watch was sound, the demand to implement it within one month took no account of the company’s or leaseholders’ circumstances and, set against the context that it would cost £13,000 per week, was an unreasonable requirement.

“This judgment did not say that the decision to impose a waking watch was unreasonable, and this was not one of the management company’s arguments. All parties accepted the fire authority’s officers, at all times, acted with nothing other than the best of intentions."

A fire serivce spokesman said: “Essex County Fire and Rescue Service carried out an audit in December 2020 and also recommended that a waking watch is implemented until alarms and simultaneous evacuation plans were put in place. ECFRS recommended this work is carried out within four months.

“Further engagement with the building led to an enforcement for work to be carried out within four weeks.

“A court ruling has extended this deadline and Essex County Fire and Rescue Service is continuing to work with the building management in order to keep residents safe.”