Grenfell council leader quits under pressure
Deputy council leader and tenant body chief also resign as pressure mounts over series of blunders
THE Kensington and Chelsea council leader quit last night amid intense pressure over his handling of the Grenfell Tower fire.
The Government threatened to take charge if Nicholas Pagetbrown, 60, did not step down as leader of the council.
His deputy, Rock Feilding-mellen, who was in charge of housing and faced serious questions over the refurbishment of Grenfell Tower, also quit, as did Robert Black, the chief executive of Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation, which ran the council’s social housing.
In his resignation statement, Mr Paget-brown said he had to “accept my share of responsibility for these perceived failings”.
THE crisis-hit leader of Kensington and Chelsea council finally quit last night, hours after the Government threatened to take charge if he didn’t resign.
Nicholas Paget-brown, 60, stood down as leader after coming under intense pressure over his handling of the Grenfell Tower catastrophe. Mr Pagetbrown’s deputy Rock Feilding-mellen, who was in charge of housing in the borough and faced serious questions over the refurbishment of Grenfell Tower, also quit.
In another day of dramatic developments, Robert Black, the chief executive of Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (KCTMO), also resigned, saying he wanted to “concentrate on assisting with the investigation and inquiry”.
KCTMO, which ran the council’s social housing on behalf of the council, is accused of ignoring warnings that the tower block was a “death trap”.
A little over a fortnight after the tragedy, in which at least 80 people died, Mr Paget-brown announced his resignation from his £67,000 a year post after four years in charge.
His position had become untenable after a series of blunders which culminated on Thursday evening with him dissolving the first council meeting to discuss the fire because journalists were present.
Mr Paget-brown argued that he had received legal advice that to carry on with the public meeting would “prejudice” the public inquiry into the fire chaired by Sir Martin Moore-bick, a retired lord justice of appeal.
The explanation was greeted with exasperation and ridicule while video recordings of the meeting ending in chaos further tarnished the council’s reputation.
In his resignation statement, Mr Paget-brown said: “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 inquiry by having an open discussion in public yesterday has itself become a political story and it cannot be right that this should have become the focus of attention when so many are dead or still unaccounted for.”
Mr Feilding-mellen said: “It has been suggested several times since the tragic event of June 14 that I should resign, but until now I have felt that it was my duty to do whatever I could personally to back the council’s efforts.
“It will be for others to judge whether it would have been better for me to resign immediately, but I would have found it hard to forgive myself if I had ducked out at such a moment of crisis for the borough.”
Robert Atkinson, the Labour councillor whose ward includes Grenfell Tower, said he was pleased the pair had quit. Mr Atkinson said: “My reaction is one of relief because ... perhaps the council can now start to organise itself to provide the services that the residents so desperately need.
“He [Mr Paget-brown] has totally failed in the leadership role in the time since the disaster happened.”
Sadiq Khan, London’s mayor, called on the Government to appoint “untainted” commissioners to run the council. He said: “The council now needs to find a way to move forward and find a way to restore the confidence in that community.
“That can only be done with new leadership and a new approach that reaches out to residents who quite rightly feel desperately neglected.”
The resignations came a matter of hours after Government sources began briefing that ministers were considering taking over the running of the council if Mr Paget-brown and his deputy refused to step down. Sajid Javid, the Secretary of State in charge of local government, made his “lack of confidence” in the council leader clear.
A senior Conservative source said the Government was looking into plans to install a group of commissioners within the council to take over from the failing leadership team following the poor response in the aftermath of the fire.
Senior Whitehall figures and Conservative councillors had repeatedly made clear to Mr Paget-brown that he could no longer lead the council. He initially refused to go but his insistence that to hold the council meeting in public would prejudice the inquiry began to unravel.
The council had tried to keep all press and public from the meeting but a High Court ruling overturned the ban, allowing journalists to report it.
An inquiry spokesman said there had been no discussion between the council and Sir Martin Moore-bick, the chair of the inquiry, prior to the council meeting being abandoned due to the presence of journalists.
A source close to Sir Martin let it be known that he would not be influenced in the course of his investigations by anyone – including meetings held by the council.
The stance also earned a rebuke from Downing Street. Asked whether Theresa May believed the meeting should have been public, her spokesman said: “Our view is that access to democracy should always be easy and we think that is vital if people want to retain confidence in our democratic system.
“In this specific case, the High Court ruled that the meeting should be open, and we would have expected the council to respect that.”
The council had been stripped of its role in helping victims and survivors of the tragedy because of its slow response and the recovery instead organised from within central Government.
‘Perhaps the council can now start to organise itself to provide the services the residents so desperately need’