Last week’s LGA conference will be remembered in part for an extraordinary speech from Sajid Javid heavily criticising the sector – Heather Jameson looks at the fallout from the communities secretary’s address

At this year’s Local Government Association annual conference in Birmingham last week, talk was dominated by two major subjects – Grenfell and the secretary of state’s speech.

In the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower fire, the sector came together determined to ensure events could never be repeated – that they would preserve the safety of their own citizens and, in the event of disaster, they would rise to the challenge of emergency response.