RESIDENTS living in high-rise apartments in Basingstoke will have their safety concerns elevated thanks to new legislation.

Basingstoke’s MP Maria Miller recently met with housing minister and North West Hampshire MP Kit Malthouse to discuss new proposed fire safety legislation.

Mrs Miller welcomed the new plans put forward by Mr Malthouse and so withdrew her own Fire Safety Information Bill, which she had previously introduced in Parliament in March.

Her Bill would have required residents of high-rise buildings to be provided with more information about the fire safety of their buildings, to have access to the annual fire risk assessment and to have an annual meeting with the “responsible person” to address any fire safety concerns.

However, the MP has declared herself satisfied with Mr Malthouse’s proposals.

Mrs Miller said: “Following the Grenfell Tower tragedy I made enquiries about high rise residential buildings in Basingstoke, both in respect of physical safety and also about residents’ concerns.

“I was also contacted by constituents who had concerns about their safety.

“My focus was on the fact that residents did not feel they had enough information about the safety of their homes, and felt that the building owners and managers were not always transparent about risks highlighted in the fire risk assessment.”

She added “I am pleased to learn that the government plans to address these points in legislation in due course and am therefore withdrawing my Private Member’s Bill.”

During the meeting Mr Malthouse stated that his intention is to empower residents with relevant information about fire safety in their homes.

He said: “Nothing is more important than making sure people are safe in their homes.

“Following the publication of Dame Judith Hackitt’s review of building regulations and fire safety, the government committed to bringing forward legislation to give residents a stronger voice, particularly when it comes to fire safety.

“We will be setting out an implementation plan for that work in the autumn and we look forward to working with committed MPs like Maria from across the house.”