HOUSING bosses have sought to reassure residents in high-rise council buildings in Tendring in the wake of the Grenfell Tower inferno.

More than 70 people are believed to be unaccounted after a fire engulfed the 24-storey building in west London on Wednesday morning.

Tendring Council housing boss Paul Honeywood said they are working with Essex Fire Authority to undertake a thorough audit of all high-rise properties that it manages.

He added: “We are confident that we already have a systematic inspection regime in place to ensure the safety of all residents living in both high and low-rise council properties.

“We have a few four-storey blocks and three five-storey units in Walton.

“The fire service have already visited the five-storey flats to familiarise themselves prior to robustly checking the risk assessment.

“While it is too early to speculate about how the fire was able to spread so quickly and with such tragic consequences, many commentators are suggesting that the aluminium cladding system used at Grenfell Towers in some way contributed to the rapid spread.

“I would like to reassure people that we have no such cladding systems in place at any of our properties.”

Mr Honeywood said a risk assessment of all Tendring Council-owned properties was carried out in 2009.

But he added: “I have agreed that we will revisit this risk assessment as a belt and braces approach so as to provide the level of reassurance that our residents would want and deserve.

“We have a few blocks of less than four storeys which are currently not covered by fire alarm systems and I understand that we are already putting a programme in place to ensure these blocks are reviewed as part of our overall review of the risk assessments.”

Labour group leader Ivan Henderson called on the council to ensure there are procedures in place to ensure emergency services can easily access the blocks that have security doors.