The local authority building control officer tasked with checking that work on Grenfell Tower complied with Building Regulations has said his massive workload forced him to focus on other projects he believed were a higher priority.

John Hoban told the inquiry into 2017’s fire, which claimed 72 lives, that he believed he was doing as many visits to the site as he could between August 2014 and July 2016 but admitted that – with hindsight – he wished he had been given more time to scrutinise the project.