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Grenfell Tower Fire Aftermath: 18 June 2017
Topic Started: Jun 18 2017, 12:19 PM (115 Views)
Webster
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(The Guardian) Residents affected by the Grenfell Tower atrocity were passionate and angry during a lengthy exchange with the prime minister, according to a bishop who sat with them.

Sixteen “very ordinary people” sat in Downing Street on Saturday to bring their concerns to Theresa May in an “unprecedented” meeting and finally felt they were listened to, said the bishop of Kensington, Dr Graham Tomlin.

He is hopeful the meeting which lasted nearly two hours, attended by victims, residents, community leaders and volunteers, was the starting point for a process of “lasting change”.

He told the Press Association: “I’m positive because I think it was a real chance for local residents, people affected by this tragedy, to voice their concerns directly to the prime minister so that she could hear them. That’s why I’m positive about it, because I think in the past local residents here have not always been listened to.”

He said that feeling of being ignored is a source of much “deep frustration”, and told how people have been left feeling “that decisions are taken about their lives and their homes that they are not party to”.

He described the residents as “brilliant” in how they raised and explained their concerns to May: “I thought the way they expressed themselves with a mixture of passion and reason was fantastic, and I hope it’s the beginning of a process, not the end of a process, the beginning of a process of real listening between government, RBKC [the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea council], local residents, that will bring about lasting change.”

Following the meeting, May released a strongly-worded statement in which she said on-the-ground support for families in the immediate aftermath of the blaze “was not good enough”.

She said she had ordered daily progress reports on housing for those affected, and vowed the public inquiry into the disaster would be “open and transparent”. Tomlin said the residents had gone from living normal lives before the tragedy to bringing their frustrations to the very top of government.

He said: “Clearly it’s quite unprecedented for 16 very ordinary people, who this time last week were walking their dogs or talking to each other in the streets around here and north Kensington, actually to be in 10 Downing Street talking face-to-face with the prime minister. I think it was a good thing to do.”

Asked if there were angry exchanges, he said: “We tried to hold it well as a meeting. There was passion, there was anger, but there was good, hard, reasoned argument used by the residents.”

Tomlin said he believed residents left the meeting feeling “reassured that they were listened to”, but added: “Time will tell as to whether it makes a difference. We wait to see what action will come from it, but they were reassured that they were listened to.”
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Webster
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(The Guardian) The Home Office is assisting the family of Mohammed Alhajali, the 23-year-old Syrian refugee who was the first fatality of the disaster to be formally identified by police, to travel to the UK to attend his funeral.

More than 85,000 people have signed a petition calling for his parents to be granted visas.

A Home Office spokesman said: We have made contact with Mr Alhajali’s family yesterday and assisted them in making arrangement for their travel to the UK in these terribly sad circumstances.”

The petition was set up by a family friend, Mirna Suleiman, 26. His older brother, Omar, who was with him in the flat, survived the fire after they were separated on their way out.
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Webster
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(The Guardian) Eve Allison, a Conservative who sits on Kensington and Chelsea Borough Council, said the refurbishment of Grenfell Tower should have looked at the inside as well as the outside of the block.

“It is on our watch, it’s our responsibility, we do have a duty of care to all our residents and whatever findings and failings come out, they have to come out soon because all the community, the victims, the families, people need answers,” she told BBC Breakfast.

“All too often we’re a little bit too concerned with how the immediate streetscape looks, how a building fits into other buildings, does it detract from the immediate streetscape.”

“I was not involved with the actual planning of the recent refurbishment....from what I’m hearing, it would have been ideal if part of the refurbishment package had looked at actually trying to gentrify inside, not just outside. “
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Webster
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--Upgrades to building regs delayed for 4years after Lachlan House cos involved "complex technical issues" says Philip Hammond @MarrShow (Norman Smith, BBC News - 18 June 2017)

--Cladding used on #GrenfellTower - "My understanding it was banned in UK" says Philip Hammond. So why used ? @MarrShow (Norman Smith, BBC News - 18 June 2017)
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(The Guardian) Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has written a comment piece for the Observer: The greatest legacy of this tragedy may well end up being the skyline of our towns and cities. In the postwar rush to reconstruct our country, towers went up in large numbers, most of which are still here today. Nowadays, we would not dream of building towers to the standards of the 1970s, but their inhabitants still have to live with that legacy. It may well be the defining outcome of this tragedy that the worst mistakes of the 1960s and 1970s are systematically torn down. Of course, this must mean people being rehoused in the same areas where they have put down roots.”
-Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jun/18/sadiq-khan-grenfell-tower-tragedy-establish-full-truth
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Webster
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...from ITV News's Peston on Sunday news show....


(1) @sarahwollaston believes @theresa_may does care profoundly about victims of #GrenfellTower but should have met residents earlier #Peston
(2) @jeremycorbyn renews his call to requisition empty homes in Kensington and Chelsea to house victims of the #GrenfellTower fire. #Peston
(3) Surely in the wake of the #Grenfell fire we have to recognise that something has gone badly wrong in this country - @jeremycorbyn #Peston
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(The Guardian) Philip Hammond on sprinklers, cladding and fire safety
--The cladding used at Grenfell Tower was banned in the UK, chancellor Philip Hammond believes. He told the BBC’s Andrew Marr: My understanding is that the cladding in question, this flammable cladding which is banned in Europe and the US, is also banned here. That’s my understanding.”

Asked why it was used, he replied: “There are two separate questions. One is, are our regulations correct? Do they permit the right kind of materials and ban the wrong kind of materials.

“Second question is were they correctly complied with? And obviously that will be a subject that the [public] inquiry will look at. It will also be a subject that the separate criminal investigation will be looking at.”

On the lack of sprinklers in Grenfell Tower, and other buildings, he said: “My understanding is that the best expert advice is that retrofitting sprinklers may not always be the best technical way of ensuring fire safety in a building.”

This would be a matter for the public inquiry, Hammond said: “The commitment that government should make, and I’ll make it now, is that when the inquiry produces its evidence, and I don’t mean in years time because we are going to ask them to produce interim findings, when it produces its findings, we will act on them.”

Asked if the government had responded adequately to coroners advice following the Lakanal Tower fire in 2009 which killed six in south London, and which said building regulations relating to fire safety had to be looked at again, he said: “My assessment is that we have responded correctly and appropriately to those recommendations”.

They were “complex technical issues” and technical expert research was commissioned “so that the decisions could be properly informed”, he said. “Now, did it take too long? Did we handle it in the correct way? The inquiry will determine that”, he added.
-Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jun/16/manufacturer-of-cladding-on-grenfell-tower-identified-as-omnis-exteriors
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(The Guardian) Reverend Mike Long of the Notting Hill Methodist Church has been on BBC1’s Sunday Morning Live talking about helping those affected by the Grenfell fire.

When asked about whether the tragic had affected his faith, he said that it “shapes it”, adding: “It affected me to be part of a traumatic community event even though many others have been more involved in actually supporting victims. In terms of my faith, it shapes me. It doesn’t mean I lose my faith but it has affected me as a person – the way I see things and people.”

He added that the faith community will have a “huge role” for many years to come in supporting the local community. Children are looking out on that building and have seen scenes no one should ever witness. The faith community is partly about togetherness and having some things that are normal. The most difficult thing for me is walking away from the site and hearing laughter ... that must continue. The community needs to draw together and have not only peace but also find sense of joy in the people they are and what makes this an incredible place to live.”
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(The Guardian) Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn renewed his call to requisition empty homes in Kensington and Chelsea to house victims of the blaze.

“There are a large number of deliberately kept vacant flats and properties all over London. It’s called ‘land banking’. People with a lot of money, buy a house, buy a flat, keep it empty”.

“Occupy it, compulsory purchase it, requisition it. There’s a lot of things you can do,” he told Peston on Sunday. “Can’t we as a society just think, all of us.

He added you “have to bring all assets to the table” in an emergency.
-Watch: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/video/2017/jun/18/empty-properties-should-be-seized-in-emergencies-says-corbyn-video
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(The Guardian) NHS England has released an update on the number of Grenfell Tower patients still receiving care in hospital. There are 18 in total, including nine who remain in critical care.

King’s College hospital in Camberwell, south London, has the highest number of patients, with seven - six of whom are in critical care.

The Met Police said on Saturday that 58 people are missing, presumed dead - a figure that includes the 30 confirmed deaths.
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(The Guardian) The Labour MP David Lammy, who lost a friend, Khadija Saye, in the fire, has called on the prime minister and the Metropolitan police to immediately seize all relevant Grenfell Tower documents to allay fears by residents of a cover-up.

“Within the community, trust in the authorities is falling through the floor and a suspicion of a cover-up is rising,” the Tottenham MP said. “The prime minister needs to act immediately to ensure that all evidence is protected so that everyone culpable for what happened at Grenfell Tower is held to account and feels the full force of the law. We need urgent action now to make sure that all records and documents relating to the refurbishment and management of Grenfell Tower are protected.”

John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, has called for the government to consider emergency legislation to ensure homes can be requisitioned to house the families made homeless by the Grenfell Tower fire.

Speaking on Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday, McDonnell said that councils already had the power to requisition property, using compulsory purchase orders, to find places for people to live. Last week Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, suggested these powers should be used in Kensington following the fire tragedy.

But when it was put to McDonnell that this process could take time, he said parliament could legislate to speed things up. He told the programme: “In emergency measures, as we saw in wartime periods as well, you can requisition properties. You will need powers to do it. We have got those powers. If necessary, I would have convened parliament immediately to, if necessary, push more legislation through within 24 hours, if that was necessary. We cannot be in a situation where we have people who have lost their homes struggling to find alternative accommodation and we have properties standing empty.”
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--There's a service taking place outside Latymer Community Church. Lots of reps from different local churches here as well as worshippers (Georgina Stubbs, Press Association - 18 June 2017)

--Volunteer @partinator says victims of #GrenfellTower fire have no access to donated funds and are being given 'a tenner' at hotels #Peston (ITV News's Peston on Sunday - 18 June 2017)
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(The Guardian) Sadiq Khan attends church service for victims
--London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, has arrived at a church service to remember those who have lost their lives and those who remain missing. The service is at St Clement Notting Dale church, which has been used as a relief centre.
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(The Guardian) Three teaching unions and the Association of Educational Psychologists have issued a joint statement calling for more support for the children and schools affected by the Grenfell Tower disaster.

The statement, signed by the general secretaries of the National Union of Teachers, the National Association of Head Teachers and the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, says: School is one area of children’s lives which can provide them with care and stability. It is essential that children continue to attend their own school, with teachers and other staff who know them and can support them, and their families. We know that those who work in education are rising to this challenge. They will need the full support of those around them.

All schools which have on their roll children from Grenfell Tower, and the area around it, must be provided with counsellors and other necessary resources.

The government and the local authority must ensure that provision is in place throughout the summer months, and in the years ahead. The residents of Grenfell Tower feel that they have been failed by a system that should have protected them. We now have a chance to show them a different face of government - one that takes responsibility for their care and support when they are most vulnerable.”


The school most directly affected by the fire is Kensington Aldridge academy, which is next to Grenfell Tower and opened in 2014.

The school remains closed but from Monday pupils have been directed to attend three other schools in the area, including Burlington Danes school in Shepherd’s Bush and Latymer Upper School in Hammersmith.
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--Absolutely heartbreaking. Father's Day cards have been left close to Grenfell Tower - nestled in flowers and surrounded by candles (Georgina Stubbs, Press Association - 18 June 2017)
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