I am shocked to report that the government has removed the legal requirement for new schools and new school buildings to install fire sprinkler systems.

I find this a reckless and irresponsible decision, putting the safety of our children and schools at risk.

Thus, I am launching a campaign alongside our local firefighters to get the government to reverse this decision.

There were a total of 600 school fires last year, and hundreds of lives and many schools have been saved by fire sprinkler systems.

Sprinklers go off when they sense a temperature over a certain heat in the building.

The cost of fitting sprinklers to a school represents a very low investment, roughly the cost of carpeting a school, when weighed against that of a rebuild to a fire.

The average cost of rebuilding a school damaged or destroyed by fire is £1.3 million of taxpayers' money.

And what cost would children, teachers and/or firefighters losing their lives or getting seriously injured be?

School fires have many damaging effects including the damage to a child's education, the loss of jobs for teachers and support staff, and the loss of a community facility for community groups and sports clubs.

I am out on the doorstep around Norwich collecting petition signatures for this campaign.

If you share my concern, please visit my website at http://www.clivelewis.org/safe_from_fire to sign the petition.