Open letter to the bereaved and survivors of Grenfell

Today is a day for you, the residents and families of Grenfell. Those who survived and those who lost loved ones in the most horrific circumstances imaginable.

On behalf of the Council, I apologise unreservedly and with all my heart to you, and to the local community, for our failure to listen to residents and to protect them. Put simply, we could, and should, have done more to keep people safe in their homes and to care for all of our residents in the aftermath of the fire.

The Grenfell Tower Inquiry has laid bare the chain of events that led to that night. It shows how you were let down by the systems and people responsible for protecting you and your families. It shows – beyond doubt – that this Council failed the residents of Grenfell Tower and the 72 people, including 18 children, who died.

You have had to wait a long time for answers, and I hope the publication of this report is an important step forward in the ongoing search for justice. We fully accept the findings, which are a withering critique of a system broken from top to bottom. It is crystal clear – profits were put before people, clear warning signs were ignored, and Grenfell was wholly avoidable, with failure at every single level.

The Council’s role will never be diluted by the large number of companies and organisations involved. We failed to keep people safe before and during the refurbishment and we failed to treat people with humanity and care in the aftermath. As a public authority, our primary concern should always be our residents and never our own reputation. The organisation I lead owes it to every single person who lost their lives to learn the lessons, change, and improve.

I know that seeing visible and tangible change is of utmost importance to you. I am grateful to all the bereaved, survivors and residents who are working with us to make change happen, showing us what we need to do differently, challenging us on progress and holding us to account for what we have not yet done. We will never forget that Grenfell happened here, on our watch, and we must work with our residents to build a local legacy here at the Council.

We will learn from every single criticism in the report. We will take time to study it further in detail, listen to the reflections from our communities, and publish a full and formal response in the autumn.

Finally, we know this is not an ending point, justice is still to be served. The Inquiry report creates urgent impetus for change – here at the Council, and no doubt nationally too. Grenfell can never be allowed to happen again.

Cllr Elizabeth Campbell
Leader of Kensington and Chelsea Council

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