Concerned residents are being reassured about the safety of their homes across west Cumbria following the tragic Grenfell Tower blaze in London.

People living on a number of Whitehaven estates have raised fears regarding the cladding insulation used on their homes.

The cladding used to insulate the London tower block has been widely blamed for spreading the blaze, which killed at least 79, and tests are now being taken on hundreds of high rise properties in England.

Town councillor Jayne Laine has contacted the fire service and Home Group about the situation regarding a number of houses on Greenbank, Woodhouse and Mirehouse.

The boss of Home Group said the cladding is not used on any of its properties and that millions of pounds has been invested over the years to improve people's homes, including External Wall Insulation (EWI).

Chief executive Mark Henderson said: "Although the cause of the Grenfell Tower fire has yet to be confirmed much of the investigation appears to be on the type of cladding used on the outside of the building.

"I want to be clear that we do not use this cladding on any of our properties in Cumbria. We have invested heavily in recent years to improve hundreds of our customers' homes, when they live in older and less energy efficient properties."

He said EWI is installed by fixing insulated panels to brickwork and then skimming over them with render – both of these being fire resistant.

"Home Group takes the safety of all our customers very seriously," he added. "In recent years we've led industry wide campaigns to improve gas safety and we ensure that we and all our contractors use materials which comply with all safety standards."

Another provider which provides housing in west Cumbria has also reassured its tenants.

Chief executive Brian Cronin of Your Housing Group, the parent company of Your Derwent & Solway, said there are robust fire risk procedures in place and “regularly checked equipment” tailored to each property.

"Your Housing Group, our fire risk assessor and the fire services we work with are committed to embracing the critical learning that emerges from the investigation into this tragic fire," he added.

And Lynda Coid, operations manager at Westfield Housing said: “We can reassure our tenants that we don't have any properties with external cladding and all our risk assessments for our flats are up to date. We also review our fire safety procedures annually."