Local News

One month on from Grenfell Tower: What’s happened?

Not enough, according to London Mayor Sadiq Khan.
Loading the player...

The devastating fire that killed at least 80 people, with numbers expected to soar, is continuing to shatter the lives of former residents.

How many have been rehoused?

Prime Minister Theresa May said all residents would be rehoused within three weeks and, with that deadline well behind us, only thee households have been given temporary accommodation and no families have been moved into permanent housing.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan said not enough had been done for residents at Mayor’s Question Time.

“It is clear much more needs to be done to find appropriate housing for Grenfell survivors,” he said.

WATCH: Heartwarming moments in the wake of the Grenfell inferno.

Loading the player...

“I have been to North Kensington many times since the fire.

“Kensington and Chelsea Council are inept, they are incompetent and they are close to being useless in the eyes of the residents. And I concur with the residents.

“They have been missing in action, they have failed to provide the residents with the support they need.”

What happened at the public meeting?

A public meeting held by the council so that residents could ask officials questions quickly descended into chaos.

When Senior Investigating Officer Matt Bonner said the investigation would “not be quick but it would be thorough”, he was met with demands that he “arrest someone”.

Loading the player...

When he mentioned counter terrorism operations, people interjected that “this is terrorism”.

Others shouted: “This is mass murder.

“You didn’t just burn down the tower.

“You murdered our friends, you murdered our families, you murdered our neighbours.”

What are they doing to stop it happening elsewhere?

There is currently a nationwide safety operation assessing other high-rise buildings to establish how many are encased in the flammable cladding that’s being blamed for the disastrous Grenfell Tower fire.

So far, 224 buildings located across 57 local authorities have been found to be using materials that failed fire tests.

Although Communities Secretary Sajid Javid said the buildings with flammable cladding will be scrutinised for fire safety, he added that none of the tests had been completed yet.

https://twitter.com/MarzayMo/status/874808334276317185

What are politicians saying?

Newly-elected MP for the area Emma Dent Coad echoed Khan’s sentiments about the council when talking to the Press Association.

“It is still chaotic, the whole process of housing people, getting them social housing, mental health help, whatever other help they are getting, obviously the people who aren’t getting help come to me,” she said.

“It’s disgraceful actually – the council are still failing people every day.”

The leader of the council that housed Grenfell Tower announced he was stepping two weeks ago after Mayor Khan called on him to resign.

Nicholas Paget-Brown was admonished for the poor response to victims in the wake of the fire as well as for closing down a later council meeting rather than talking to residents.

“As council leader, I have to accept my share of responsibility for these perceived failings. In particular, my decision to accept legal advice that I should not compromise the public enquiry by having an open discussion in public yesterday, has itself become a political story,” he said.

What’s happening with the actual tower?

At the moment, there are no plans to knock the building down as an investigation is being carried out and hasn’t been deemed a risk.

“The building has never been at risk of falling down,” Hilary Patel, who is part of community engagement for the Grenfell Response Team, said.

Residents were also told that the building couldn’t be covered yet as the change to humidity and other factors would interfere with the investigation.

Scaffold was also out of the equation for also possibly interfering.

With politicians, residents and the public expressing their anger at how badly the situation has been handled, we can only hope some sort of resolve is given to the survivors – it’s the least they deserve.

Related stories