North Ayrshire Council have written to residents of the high flats to reassure them in the wake of London’s Grenfell Court tragedy.

At least 79 people are believed to have died in the blaze, which ripped through a tower block last week.

The fire bore similarities to a blaze tragedy in Irvine’s Garnock Court in 1999 which saw one man killed.

And Central Ayrshire’s former MP Brian Donohoe says someone in authority should be charged for the London blaze after, claiming it was outrageous lessons weren’t learned from the Irvine fire.

A North Ayrshire Council spokesperson said: “Following the incident in London, we carried out immediate checks on all seven of our high-rise flats and will now be carrying out more detailed investigations as a precautionary measure to provide further reassurance to all our residents.”

“We would like to reassure residents that health and safety is an absolute priority for the Council.

“The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service conduct quarterly inspections of all our residential high rise buildings, in addition to our own maintenance and inspection regimes. Residents are also encouraged to contact the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service to arrange a free home fire safety visit.

“A tenant sadly died in a house fire in one of our high rise flats in 1999. The decision to replace the in-fill panels was taken immediately and the works were completed shortly afterwards. Investigations following the event were instrumental in bringing about a change in the regulations.”

Discussing the London tragedy, former MP Mr Donohoe told the Irvine Times: “I think somebody should go to jail for it, I honestly do.

“There should be a person charged with manslaughter. Someone has to be charged, the person that awarded the contract, and then who got the contract and then all the sub-contractors.

"If you consider there’s something like a £6,000 pound difference for the whole cladding if it had been made non-flammable. That’s just outrageous." 

Eighteen years ago, Garnock Court was described as going ‘up like a match’ after flames ripped up nine stories in 20 minutes.

More than 60 firefighters fought the blaze which left one 73-year-old disabled resident dead and more than a hundred homeless.

An parliamentary inquiry concluded that cladding should be non-combustible.

Mr Donohoe added: “At the very least North Ayrshire took the decision – with a bit of pressure it has to be said – to remove that cladding and replace it.

"They took out all the plastic windows. They put in a concierge, CCTV and 24/7 monitoring, so they did what was required of them.”