Today is a day for you, the residents and families of Grenfell. Those who survived and those who lost loved ones.
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 people in the aftermath of the fire.
The Grenfell Tower Inquiry report 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.
Cllr Elizabeth Campbell, Leader of Kensington and Chelsea Council
Today is a day for you, the residents and families of Grenfell. Those who survived and those who lost loved ones.
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 people in the aftermath of the fire.
The Grenfell Tower Inquiry report 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. The findings 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.
I have been clear before, the Council’s role will never be diluted by the large number of companies and organisations involved. We are a public authority and therefore the bar should always be set higher for us. The organisation I lead owes it to every single person who lost their lives to learn the lessons and change.
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.
Without your challenge, I believe we would not be where we are today and would not be improving as an organisation, but we also know there is a lot more to do. 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 are already learning from every single criticism, and we accept the findings outlined in the report. We will take time to study it further in detail and listen to the reflections from our communities. We will publish a full and formal response in the Autumn.
Finally, we know this is not an ending point, justice is still to be found change has not been completed. But I do see today as a moment for the Council to increase its speed and its focus. 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.
Kensal Canalside is one of London’s 38 Opportunity Areas within the London Plan and the Council’s Local Plan