Residents in Ellesmere Port’s high rise flats are being reassured following the devastating Grenfell Tower blaze.

The three blocks at Joseph Groome Towers on the Westminster estate were first proposed in 1965 and completed in 1967.

Each tower is 40m in height with 13 floors providing 51 flats.

Ellesmere Port St Paul’s ward borough councillor Angela Claydon (Lab), Cheshire West’s housing chief and a former housing chairman on the Ellesmere Port and Neston district council, said: “I know some of our residents will be feeling understandably worried and for this reason our housing managers Plus Dane are visiting their three blocks with the local Ellesmere Port fire crew.

“The three Ellesmere Port blocks have sprinkler systems fitted.

“Plus Dane will also be meeting residents in their homes to reassure them and remind them what the stay put policy means and also to let people know that the fire service has visited the property to do a full inspection.”

Cllr Claydon added: ”After the shocking fire my thoughts are with the families whose lives have been so badly affected.”

Grenfell Towers in West London which was destroyed by a severe fire overnight
Grenfell Towers in West London which was destroyed by a severe fire overnight

Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service also said it could provide reassurance to the residents of the 21 high rise blocks across Cheshire.

A spokesperson said: “Every high rise is regularly inspected for fire safety by the service’s prevention and protection teams, accompanied by operational firefighters.

“These teams will be visiting all of them over the course of the next few days to provide reassurance to residents.

“The service places a high priority on operational training for all incidents including high rise accommodation buildings and this training is given to all operational firefighters and incident commanders as well as to new recruits who also visit high rise blocks as part of their initial training.”

She added: “If any Cheshire resident has any concerns about the property they live in they should contact, in the first instance, their housing association or building management who carry out full fire risk assessments which will include advice for residents in the event of a fire.”

Plus Dane is due to hand over responsibility for the management of the 5,500 council homes in the district to City West Housing Trust, who have won a 10 year contract, at the end of this month.