A former fire safety advisor has warned not enough attention was paid to flammable insulation following a large council house fire.

In the wake of the Burton Road fire in Debden, in which Epping Forest District Council's £10m house building scheme went up in flames, Cllr Chris Pond has been asking why the building caught and stayed alight.

At a meeting on Thursday (August 30), the Loughton Resident Association councillor found out from assistant housing director Paul Pledger that one of the two types of insulation used in the property was flammable and made of polyurethane.

When later asked whether either was Celotex - the brand used in Grenfell Tower - Cllr Pond said: "There are two types of insulation used. There is the wall insulation which is phenolic and oil based I think.

"And then there is the thicker insulation that was used on the roof.

"I have asked for a report on the kind of insulation to find out what exactly it is.

"The large stuff on the roof is about three inches thick and seems to be a polyurethane based insulation, or at least that is what Paul Pledger said."

Following the Grenfell Tower fire Cllr Pond was one of the county councillors asked to sit on the Independent Property Review Commission.

While the panel made a number of recommendations which were followed by the county council earlier this year, the scope of the its inquiry was limited.

Cllr Pond added: "One of the issues when I was on the fire safety panel was that we looked at the cladding, but not really the insulation system.

"It is not just the external cladding that matters, but the whole system on the inside and outside of the building."

The veteran member also expressed concern that the district council had not asked Burton Road builders Mulalley to stop using flammable insulation after Grenfell, because the contract had been signed before the tragedy and to do so would break competitive tendering laws.

He said: "When you have a contract it can be changed by mutual consent.

"My worry was after Grenfell no one at EFDC seemed to be looking at what we are putting up now.

"No one seemed to be saying 'Are we doing this right?'"