New Grenfell council boss and a £1m second home
A COUNCIL chief accused of being out of touch with victims of the Grenfell Tower fire has a £1million second home, it was revealed yesterday.
Elizabeth Campbell owns a farmhouse on the Isle of Wight after it was originally bought through a family trust and a company registered in an offshore tax haven.
The newly-elected leader of Kensington and Chelsea council has already faced calls to resign over accusations that her affluent background meant she did not understand the needs of families caught up in the Grenfell tragedy.
At least 80 people are believed to have died in the blaze in the tower block and hundreds of families who lost their homes and belongings have been housed in temporary accommodation.
Forty of the victims have been formally identified so far but police warned it could take months to recover and identify all human remains from the building.
Yvette Williams, of the Justice4 Grenfell group, said details about Mrs Campbell’s second home would be ‘incredibly damaging’ to survivors’ trust in the council. She said: ‘She is unconnected to the everyday person in Britain. She has no idea about reality for ordinary people.’ The Isle of Wight farmhouse was purchased in 1996 by Ridewell Holdings Limited, a company based in the British Virgin Islands and owned by a family trust set up by Mrs Campbell’s late father. Ownership of the property was held in the trust for more than two decades but transferred to Mrs Campbell last week, the London Evening Standard reported. She was elected leader of the Tory-controlled council last week after the previous leader resigned in the aftermath of the Grenfell fire. Mrs Campbell was booed and heckled by Grenfell survivors who called for her resignation during her maiden speech as leader. She lives with her family in a multi-million-pound townhouse in Chelsea and has faced accusations that she is out of touch with Grenfell residents and others in less affluent areas of the west London borough. Mrs Campbell has apologised for the council’s response to the tragedy, saying that victims had been ‘let down’, and has pledged to use the council’s £270million reserves to build more social housing.
The authority hopes to build or buy 400 new homes for social housing and will also ask the Government for more cash to cope with the disaster.
Kensington’s Labour MP, Emma Dent Coad, said: ‘I don’t mind people having second, third or even fourth homes. We have very rich people in Kensington who pay their taxes, are absolutely aligned with their community, and work closely with them with no fanfare.
‘But questions must be asked about a property registered offshore for so long. For Grenfell survivors, who could never dream of owning a second home let alone being able to place it in a tax haven, this must be explained to their satisfaction if she wishes to gain their trust.’
Mrs Campbell said: ‘ The property is now owned by me personally. All proper taxes have always been paid on this property. People will judge me for what I do over the coming days, weeks and months for the survivors of the tragic fire at Grenfell. This is my utmost focus and priority.’