Grenfell Inquiry aftermath : Council invites residents to respond to findings

By Adrian Zorzut, Local Democracy Reporter

Kensington and Chelsea council is launching ‘drop-in’ sessions to give the public a say in how it formally responds to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry.

The West London local authority provided meetings dates earlier this month but reiterated them in a recent report into the implications of Phase 2 of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry for the council.

The council has self-imposed a November deadline to submit a formal response to the Inquiry, which found it ‘bears considerable responsibility’ for the dangerous conditions which led to Grenfell Tower fire and its leadership ‘wholly inadequate’ to deal with the disaster.

Kensington and Chelsea council said it has so far accepted the findings of the inquiry without question and shouldered the blame heaped onto the Tenant Management Organisation running Grenfell Tower at the time because the council retained “ultimate responsibilities for its tenants and leaseholders” but also because housing services were handed back to the council in 2018.

The council’s recent report read: “The conclusion of the Inquiry marks an important moment, with the report offering an authoritative account of failings that is broadly accepted by council and community alike.

“It is a moment for the council to seize, building on the changes we have already made and reflecting with humility and openness on what is left to do. If we do not take this opportunity, we may lose yet more trust and cause further harm.”

One-to-one sessions will take place today at the Kensington Leisure Centre and on September 24 at Chelsea Theatre between 4pm-7pm. Public meetings will also take place at Morley College between 6pm-8pm on October 7 and November 7.

These engagements are open to residents within a 500m radius of Grenfell tower as well as to all social housing tenants and anyone else in the community interested in participating.

The feedback it receives will “shape our final response and to design an ongoing mechanism for residents to hold us to account for the changes we are making”.

Grenfell Tower Inquiry, chaired Sir Martin Moore-Bick, said the West London council’s own building control department failed to make sure a 2014 refurb of the tower complied with regulations.

The panel said the council lacked trained staff and had limited knowledge of the risks associated with using highly flammable aluminium composite panels. Some of the most stinging criticism was levelled at the council and TMO, which the panel accused of showing a ‘persistent indifference’ to fire safety and the safety of vulnerable people.

The inquiry report read: “The TMO must also take a share of the blame for the disaster. As the client it failed to take sufficient care in its choice of architect and paid insufficient attention to matters affecting fire safety, including the work of the fire engineer.”

The inquiry also slammed the council’s building control department, writing: “[It] failed to perform its function of ensuring that the design of the refurbishment compiled with the Building Regulations.”

Kensington and Chelsea council was set to review its own report during a meeting last night.

Picture: LDRS