Tower victims to be given flats in luxury block
SOME of the victims from the Grenfell Tower disaster are to be rehoused in luxury apartments, the Government announced yesterday.
The families will move to new homes in High Street Kensington, west London, where prices start at £1.5million.
The move comes after a backlash over the speed and scale of the authorities’ response to the disaster.
Theresa May yesterday apologised for failing to help survivors of the Grenfell Tower disaster “when they needed it most.”
The Prime Minister admitted the initial response was not good enough after a blaze ripped through the tower block, killing at least 79 people and leaving scores more homeless.
The City of London Corporation secured the 68 “social housing” flats in response to the disaster.
Mrs May was accused of lacking compassion after failing to meet victims when she first visited the scene. Instead, she talked only to the emergency services.
Priority
Locals heckled her when she finally returned to speak with community representatives and was escorted through an angry crowd to her car.
Yesterday, after the Queen’s Speech, she told the Commons: “The support on the ground for families in the initial hours was not good enough.
“People were left without belongings, without roofs over their heads, without even basic information about what had happened, about what they should do and where they could seek help.
“That was a failure of the state, local and national, to help people when they needed it most. As Prime Minister, I apologise for that failure.”
Private homes at the Kensington Row £2billion development are on offer from £1,575,000 to £8.5million, according to the website of developer St Edward. Residents have access to a gym, swimming pool, spa, private cinema and 24-hour concierge.
The Government is paying for builders and decorators to finish work on the new one, two and three-bedroom flats so victims can move in quickly. The deal was brokered by the Homes and Communities Agency. Communities Secretary Sajid Javid said: “Our priority is to get everyone who has lost their home permanently rehoused locally as soon as possible.”
The news of the flats deal came as the first funeral of a Grenfell victim was held yesterday. Relatives of Syrian refugee Mohammad Alhajali gathered to pay their respects at a mosque in east London. Family friend Muzna Alnaib said the engineering student “loved London and loved the people he met here”.
Meanwhile, a charity single to raise cash for the victims hit number one just hours after its release yesterday.
More than 50 artists, including Queen’s Brian May, Roger Daltrey and Robbie Williams, took part in the emotional cover of Simon and Garfunkel’s song Bridge Over Troubled Water.