For some time now the RBKC Labour Party have waged a vicious campaign aimed at marginalising and discrediting the Grenfell Action Group and it’s membership. This has manifested itself in local Labour Councillors refusing to assist the Grenfell Action Group in holding Public Meetings and, in doing so, seeking to stamp on our democratic right to free speech.
We have also recorded instances of RBKC Labour working with the neo-Cons in Hornton Street to deny residents in Grenfell Tower collective representation (power surge issue, Grenfell Tower Improvement works, etc) much to the detriment of our local community.
The local Labour Group seem to think that no-one except themselves are entitled to voice opinions about the state of our community, and they appear to hold in contempt the notion that we supposedly live in a country of free speech .
We believe that the RBKC Labour Group should be deeply ashamed of the way that they have responded to and interacted with the Grenfell Action Group and how they have constantly attempted to stamp on us and oppress our heart-felt and carefully considered views. An example of this was when Councillor Blakeman was seen tearing down legitimate literature posted around our Estate by the Grenfell Action Group and then claiming she did so because of threats of violence from our members.
The latest example of the Labour group’s marginalisation and ill-treatment of the Grenfell Action Group relates to the Westway Sports Centre and the ongoing issue of air pollution on that site. We believe that they have historically done very little to stand up for residents on this issue and we believe that a recent blog by the Grenfell Action Group, using details obtained by Freedom of Information legislation, demonstrates their inaction very well :
We were, therefore, very surprised to see that they have recently published, on the Kensington Labour website, http://kensingtonlabour.com/ the results of a pollution study undertaken with the assistance of Grenfell Action Group members (in partnership with another community activist) before we had a chance to respond to the study or publish our own interpretation of the results on our own blog. Please note the key finding of the study:
The European legal standard for annual nitrogen dioxide levels is 40µg/m3
The average for July alone at the Westway Sports Centre was 52.46µg/m3. This is an extremely high reading. It is truly shocking and completely unacceptable.
Our readers should note that RBKC have consistently refused to provide air quality monitoring at the Westway Sports Centre and have simultaneously insisted that there is no air pollution problem at this site. One has to question the integrity of the local council based on such irresponsible and obstructive behaviour, and to strongly suspect ulterior motives at play. Don’t take our word on this. Check it out via one of our earlier blogs on this issue:
https://grenfellactiongroup.wordpress.com/2012/12/12/bad-air-days-at-shepherds-bush-roundabout/
To continue, despite RBKC Labour Leader Emma Dent Coad being made aware of the Grenfell Action Group’s involvement with the “Mapping for Change” Citizen Science Project at University College London, they did not have the courtesy to share these findings with us, but instead used the data as though it were their own, shamelessly “piggy backing” on our work while completely failing to acknowledge the role of the Grenfell Action Group in collecting the data for the study.
We are utterly sickened by Labour’s pretence that they have been actively involved with the issue of pollution at the Westway and find this most recent action towards the Grenfell Action Group parasitic and self-serving in nature. No doubt the hollow words posted on the RBKC Labour website will be met with equally hollow actions from a group of elected Labour Councillors who should be deeply ashamed of the way they routinely hijack the legitimate work of others and the contemptible way they treat members of the community who have the temerity to disagree with them.
Residents of Lancaster West gave up any hope that the Labour Party have the will to achieve anything for our community a long, long time ago and know that if we are to achieve change it will be through our own actions as tenants and leaseholders and not through the actions of our pathetic elected Labour Councillors.
Grenfell Action Group 