If it appears to a local authority that any building or proposed building which is, or will be, a building to which this section applies is not, or will not be, provided with such means of escape in case of fire as the local authority deem necessary from each storey of which the floor is more than twenty feet above the surface of the street or ground on any side of the building, the authority shall by notice require the owner of the building, or, as the case may be, the person proposing to erect the building, to execute such work or make such other provision in regard to the matters aforesaid as may be necessary.

In so far notice under the preceding subsection requires a person to execute works, the provisions of Part XII of this Act with respect to appeals against, and the enforcement of, notices requiring the execution of works shall apply in relation to that notice.

In so far as such a notice requires a person to make provision otherwise than by the execution of works, he shall, if he fails to comply with the notice, be liable to a fine not exceeding five pounds and to a further fine not exceeding forty shillings for each day on which the offence continues after conviction, therefor:

Provided that in any proceedings under this subsection it shall be open to the defendant to question the reasonableness of the authority's requirements.