The new Kensington MP says she raised concerns about fire safety at tower blocks in the area with the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority.

Emma Dent Coad, who is a member of the authority, and a local councillor in the Golborne ward, was speaking on Radio 4’s Today programme on Wednesday (June 14), following the Grenfell fire disaster .

She said: “There have been a lot of concerns over the past few years on various fire issues."

“I have brought it up quite a few times," she added.

Flames engulfed the 27-storey building

“The blocks are of a certain age. Some of them have been refurbished, some haven’t, and we have an ageing population.

“In my ward, we have three tower blocks and all of them have had fires recently.

“The biggest concern is getting old people out because we have an ageing population and a lot of them live in tower blocks and it is a huge concern trying to get old people out of tower blocks who may not be very mobile.”

Emma Dent Coad, now MP for Kensington, at Trellick Tower after fire crews had dealt with the flames which broke out on the 27th floor in April

In April a fire broke out on the 27th floor of nearby Trellick Tower.

It resulted in the evacuation of the Grade II listed building, but fire crews were able to stop the flames spreading .

Ms Dent Coad was at the scene of fire that evening, and told getwestlondon : “It could have been a hell of a lot worse .”

Video Loading

She also wrote on Facebook in reference to the Trellik incident: “Disaster averted.”

Several fatalities have been confirmed by emergency crews after flames broke out in the tower block in North Kensington in the early hours of Wednesday (June 14) morning.

The full extent of casualties is till not clear.

For the latest updates, head to our live blog .

We've set up a JustGiving page in aid of those affected. To donate visit www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/grenfell-tower-support.

Keep up to date with the latest news in west London via the free getwestlondon app.

You can even set it to receive push notifications for all the breaking news in your area.

Available to download from the App Store or Google Play for Android now!