People living in a town where a car crash and a house fire have left nine people dead deserve to “feel safe in their own homes”, the local council leader has said.

Alec Brown’s comments came in response to the deaths of seven people, including two police officers, in the crash at South Bank near Middlesbrough on Saturday, followed by a house fire in Grangetown on Wednesday that claimed the lives of a woman aged 34 and a seven-year-old girl.

Brown told Radio 4’s Today programme he would be meeting with councillors, police and social housing providers on Friday.

Meanwhile Prime Minister Andy Burnham said “all of the support will be provided to get to the heart of what has happened”.

Brown, the Labour leader of Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, said he understood people from the area might feel “left behind”.

“I’m from an estate, from the same ilk,” he said.

“You live around people that may be suffering poverty or other social issues, it can be that uniform sort of consciousness that ‘we’re left behind’.

“But I can assure the people of Grangetown and South Bank they’re as important to me as people from any other estate in the borough.”

Local Labour MPs Anna Turley, Luke Myer, Andy McDonald, Jonathan Brash and Chris McDonald said in a joint statement their communities deserved to “feel safe”.

They welcomed the help of other police forces during the past week, but called for more long-term support to protect residents who had expressed “safety concerns” for “far too long”.

Myer said the current national funding formulas for the police and fire service did not take into account the “seriousness” of the crime people in Teesside faced.

“We essentially have a metropolitan style of crime and also risk of fire but with a sort of rural-style funding,” he said.

“This is why we need to see a real overhaul of the funding formula.”

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey told the Press Association the events in and around Middlesbrough over the last week were “deeply worrying”.

Cleveland Police, who have made several arrests in connection with the recent deaths, are also investigating a crash which saw a vehicle hit the wall of a house in South Bank in the early hours of Thursday morning.

The property had been empty at the time and the force said it had “not yet been confirmed whether this incident is linked to wider organised crime”.

On Saturday, PC Matthew Blades and PC Tom Clough died when a Volkswagen Passat, which was going the wrong way on the A66 at South Bank, hit their vehicle.

The five young men in the Volkswagen also died.

Police said 17 people, aged between 18 and 61, had been arrested across Teesside as part of an investigation into the lead-up to the crash.

They have been held on a range of offences including possession of a firearm and being part of an organised crime group.

On Wednesday, Natalie McDonald, 34, died along with her seven-year-old niece Valentina Foster in the fire in Grangetown.

Natalie’s mother, Lisa Kirton, described her as “a beautiful soul, who would have done anything for anybody”.

Valentina, who was known as Tina, was staying at the house for the summer holidays and had been “dancing around the living room” only the previous night.

Lisa said Natalie’s 15-year-old daughter and a friend had managed to escape after the friend “kicked out a window” upstairs.

Natalie’s brother, Josh Kirton, said she had not been involved with “anything to do with gangs” or the crash on the A66.

“That’s what makes this so senseless,” he said.

“There’s some terrible people in the world and now my sister and Valentina have gone.”

The fire also left a 48-year-old woman in a critical condition in hospital, while another three people suffered non-life threatening injuries.

Two men, aged 23 and 31, had been arrested on suspicion of murder and remained in custody.

Cleveland Police said it was “keeping an open mind” about the fire and said it could not “rule out any links to wider organised crime at this time”.

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