Five London tower blocks to be evacuated after Grenfell fire raises cladding concerns

800 households are to be evacuated from tower blocks in Camden, north London, to allow "urgent fire safety works" to take place, local council leader Georgia Gould said.

Camden Council in London is preparing to evacuate the households from blocks covered in similar cladding to the one used in the Grenfell Tower fire. It is the first council to evacuate a building in the wake of the tragedy.

Gould said: "What we found was that the cladding was not up to the standard, it was not fire retardant.

"On Thursday night we had a public meeting with residents who shared a number of concerns that I had not been aware of.

"Grenfell changes everything. I don't believe we can take any risks with our residents' safety.

"We made the decision to move people into temporary accommodation.

"I know it's a scary time but we will make sure they are safe.

"We think it is about 800 households but it is an emerging picture".

Gould said safety experts had informed the council at the end of today that they could not guarantee the safety of the buildings.

"We are absolutely clear that we will make sure that everybody on those blocks has somewhere to stay tonight," Gould added.

Residents of the blocks in Swiss Cottage have been advised to go to the local library where they will be allocated a room for the night.

It comes as the Metropolitan Police said it was considering manslaughter charges after disclosing that the cladding and insulation on the outside of Grenfell Tower failed fire safety tests.

It also emerged that the Grenfell blaze was started when a Hotpoint fridge-freezer caught fire. Owners of the same model, of which 64,000 were sold, have been told to contact the company as the Government ordered tests to be carried out on similar models.

Tests on cladding samples from 600 tower blocks in England are being carried out on the orders of the Department for Communities and Local Government, which has now confirmed that those tests extend to hospitals, schools, universities, office blocks and any other public building that has cladding fitted.