Learning the lessons of the Grenfell Tower fire
THE Prime Minister’s statement today in the Commons on the Grenfell Tower fire confirms what many people feared: there are other tower blocks with combustible cladding.
She says local authorities and the fire services are taking
“all possible steps” to ensure that buildings are safe; that, presumably, will mean that the lethal cladding will be removed quickly. It may also mean that the people living in those buildings will have to be rehoused at public expense while their homes are dealt with. The one positive aspect of this grim and avoidable tragedy is that the residents of other tower blocks will soon be safer.
Theresa May also confirms that an immediate independent inquiry will take place, that the residents will be at the heart of it, and observes that any guilty parties will have “nowhere to hide”. What is useful is her insistence that an interim report will be published “as soon as possible”. All too often, public inquiries are a means by which matters of urgent concern are kicked into the long grass; it cannot happen here and she will be held to account for her promise of a quick report. Her announcement follows a call by the London Fire Brigade for a judicial inquiry given “major concerns” about safety regulations.
There are multiple areas of concern that an inquiry must deal with. We want to know who was responsible for the block having lethal, flammable cladding and we want to know that other buildings are going to be made safe; we also need to know what went wrong in the aftermath of the fire. Right now there is a very public spat between local and central government in assigning blame for the official response in the immediate aftermath of the fire.
Kensington and Chelsea’s chief clerk, Nicholas Holgate, has resigned but made it clear that he was being forced to step down, by, it seems, the Communities Secretary, Sajid Javid. Mr Javid has denied interfering in the affairs of a local authority. This should not distract anyone from the immediate and crucial task in hand, which is to house the survivors of the fire properly; 68 flats in the heart of Kensington will be made available for some of them and the Prime Minister insists that none of them should be rehoused against their wishes outside the area. A good, if belated, response.
The inquiry must not only focus on culpability for this tragedy; it should help prevent other people suffering as the residents of Grenfell Tower did.