Grenfell fire inquiry ‘is failing to deliver’

THE GRENFELL Tower inquiry is “failing to deliver” on promises it made to survivors and the bereaved, a group of 11 law firms representing them has said.

Lawyers have accused the probe of leaving families “out in the cold” by not regularly communicating progress, and an “alarming” lack of transparency. Despite assurances that chairman Sir Martin Moore-Bick was expecting to deliver his interim report on the inquiry’s first phase by spring, the Grenfell community still does not have a date for its release.

And while Sir Martin initially said he was aiming for the second part of the inquiry to start at the end of 2019, it will now be early 2020 before hearings resume. Less than a quarter of the 200,000 documents relevant to this phase, which will examine the wider issues surrounding the fire, have been disclosed.

The inquiry team has been aiming to produce the report, based on the first phase of the inquiry, before June 14 - the two year anniversary of the fire. Isabel Bathurst, who is representing a number of victims’ families for Slater and Gordon, one of the firms in the group of 11, said: “The families have lost faith in the inquiry and believe the process shows no humanity or fundamental interest in what they are fighting for.

“They collectively feel it is failing to deliver on its intended purpose and those in charge do not comprehend the extent of the trauma the victims and the victims’ families are still suffering every day.”

The group is calling for a hearing so that these concerns can be raised with the chairman directly. A spokeswoman for the inquiry said teams were in contact with families, with monthly public updates, drop-ins and written and face-to-face contact with groups and legal representatives.