FIGHTIN’ TALK

Our campaign in pursuit of answers, and of course compensation, for residents of Grenfell Tower impacted by the recent electrical supply problems appears to have achieved very little. Indeed, the leadership of the Grenfell Leasholders Association felt impelled to write again on16th June in yet another desperate plea to Cllr Blakeman begging for her intervention on the various issues affecting Grenfell Tower. To her credit Blakeman promptly launched a very strongly worded  email – an exocet in effect – aimed at TMO Chief Executive Robert Black, RBKC Director of Housing Laura Johnson, and the new Cabinet Member for Housing and Property Rock Feilding-Mellen. We reproduce this in full below:

“I am writing to focus objectively on some of the very valid matters raised by Mr. Awoderu, on behalf of the Grenfell Leaseholders’ Association.

The matters raised with respect to the loss of the water supply, the problems with the defects in the communal heating and hot water system, the lift malfunctions and the electricity spikes all require an early response and swift remedial action.

The replies given to date have been less than satisfactory, as has been pointed out by Cllr Tony Holt, Mr. O’Connor, the Leaseholders’ Association and myself on behalf of the ward councillors. Cllr. Holt, for example, points out that electrical spikes are usually caused by an irregularity in the system, such as a sudden change in load or malfunction of a circuit-breaker. Although Leadbitter say that their site is served from a different source, this will very likely be connected to the Grenfell Tower feeder not far away, so a methodical analysis of the various factors is required, plus monitoring of the supply non-stop, which only the electricity supplier can do.

The other problems with the heating and hot water system and drinking water are long-standing and have been drawn to the attention of the Council and the TMO over many years.

I do not understand the reasoning behind the suggestion that residents should first contact their home insurance company about any damaged electrical equipment. The damage has been caused through no fault of the residents and therefore all claims should be lodged with the TMO. The small number of residents who can afford home insurance would no doubt lose any no claims bonuses if their own insurers are required to make good these losses. Can you therefore please provide residents with the details of the TMO insurers to whom they shall submit their claims? As Mr. Awoderu points out, it has been a month since residents lost essential daily appliances that are yet to be replaced.

Mr. Awoderu also refers to the need for a robust response from the “appointed managing agents”. You are all well aware that the Lancaster West Estate Management Board has not been functioning since December 2012. I have referred this to the Council, since the Council itself manages the contract with the EMB. The absence of tenant management and oversight at Lancaster West has gone on for long enough and means that residents of the Estate do not have recourse to local advocacy on their behalf. I have already asked the Council to address this and it should now be prioritised.

Again, I have already asked the Council to provide the residents of Grenfell Tower with a comprehensive explanation as to why the Grenfell Tower regeneration project has been delayed. There is a meeting this evening to which the ward councillors were not invited. As none of us is able to attend at such short notice, we will expect a full report on the reasons for the delay to the project to be shared with residents and with ourselves. As I also already stated, residents are extremely sceptical that it will ever now be realised.

Finally, Mr. Awoderu states that I “as our local Councillor, with your team, bear heavy responsibility towards the residents of Grenfell Tower first and foremost in dealing with difficulties the residents are facing right now”. He is correct that the ward councillors must be responsive to the needs of Grenfell Tower residents – but to do so, we depend on the TMO and the Council being competent to take effective action to deal with all the problems as and when they emerge – not several days or weeks later.

We also expect remedial action to be effective and sustainable, not for the same or similar problems to re-emerge several months down the line. Thus far this has not happened. Many of these problems have now escalated to the point where residents’ health and safety is in danger of being compromised, so the long-standing contention that there is no funding to address these problems is now neither valid or acceptable.

Finally, can someone please explain why the ward councillors were not given the courtesy of being informed that Mr. Chiles had left Leadbitter and provided with the contact details of his successor?

We look forward to an early reply.

Cllr. Judith Blakeman, on behalf of the Notting Barns Ward councillors”

We were tempted to publish this as soon as we saw it , but decided to hold off for a few days to see what kind of response Cllr Blakeman received. We have now heard from her and can reveal that the Grenfell Tower issues have been referred to the RBKC Housing and Property Scrutiny Committee. This is all very well, and we welcome the referral, but unfortunately this committee is not due to meet until 11th July.

Meanwhile Grenfell Tower residents have still not been told what caused the near disastrous power surge problems in May and, apart from a small few who received emergency payments, are no closer to receiving compensation that might enable them to replace the many electrical appliances that were destroyed.

In closing, may we suggest that our readers might like to read, for what it’s worth, the Freedom Of Information Statement on the TMO website, which claims that:

“The TMO is committed to being open and to providing information to the general public”

PIGS MIGHT FLY

(PS. Let’s hope Blakeman can continue to justify her star billing as the Warrior Queen)

THE GRENFELL TOWER PROJECT – WHAT’S GOING ON?

THE GRENFELL ACTION GROUP AND THE GRENFELL TOWER LEASHOLDERS ASSOCIATION STRONGLY URGE RESIDENTS TO ATTEND THE “EVENING CONSULTATION MEETING” SCHEDULED TO TAKE PLACE IN THE EMB ROOMS BETWEEN 6.30PM-7.30PM ON MONDAY 17TH JUNE.

RESIDENTS ARE SICK AND TIRED OF THE COMPLETE LACK OF PROGRESS ON THE PLANNED GRENFELL TOWER REFURBISHMENT AND WE DEMAND ANSWERS FROM THE COUNCIL/TMO.

THE PROJECT WAS DUE TO RUN AND BE COMPLETED AT THE SAME TIME AS THE KALC CONSTRUCTION WORKS BUT THE FACT IS THAT THE GRENFELL TOWER REFURBISHMENT IS STILL WAITING TO BE SUBMITTED FOR PLANNING PERMISSION AND RESIDENTS ARE BEING KEPT IN THE DARK ABOUT WHAT IS ACTUALLY GOING ON.

THE COUNCIL HAS ALLOCATED SIX MILLION POUNDS FOR THIS PROJECT.  HOWEVER THE TOTAL COST HAS BEEN ESTIMATED AT ABOUT NINE AND A HALF MILLION, AND THERE ARE STRONG INDICATIONS THAT THE TMO CANNOT AFFORD THE ADDITIONAL THREE AND A HALF MILLION REQUIRED. THEY THEREFORE INTEND TO WITHDRAW THE PLANNING APPLICATION AND SUBMIT A NEW ONE THIS SUMMER.

THE PROJECT WILL THEREFORE BE FURTHER DELAYED, UNTIL 2014 AT THE EARLIEST, AND THERE IS GOOD REASON TO FEAR THAT RBKC AND TMO ARE PLANNING TO SKIMP ON THE SPECIFICATIONS.  SOME ELEMENTS OF THE PROJECT WILL BE DROPPED COMPLETELY, AND THE QUALITY OF THE WORKS TO INDIVIDUAL PROPERTIES WILL ALMOST CERTAINLY SUFFER AS A RESULT

WE BELIEVE THAT WE HAVE BEEN MESSED ABOUT LONG ENOUGH AND THAT THE COUNCIL/TMO NEED TO PROVIDE RESIDENTS WITH A CLEAR TIME-TABLE FOR THE REFURBISHMENT OF OUR HOMES AND COME CLEAN ABOUT HOW MUCH MONEY IS AVAILABLE AND HOW IT WILL BE SPENT.

WE ALSO STRONGLY BELIEVE THAT THE ONLY WAY FOR RESIDENTS TO EXERCISE ANY POWER OR CONTROL, IN CIRCUMSTANCES SUCH AS THESE, IS BY COMING TOGETHER TO COLLECTIVELY DEMAND THE ANSWERS WE NEED, AND TO WHICH WE ARE ENTITLED.

DIVIDE AND RULE

The TMO recently apologised to residents for the “distress and inconvenience” experienced as a result of the near catastrophic power surge that occurred on the 29th May.  However, we are not satisfied with their ongoing refusal to facilitate a residents meeting, and their obvious attempt to divide and rule the Grenfell Tower community.  When they failed to respond to our two most recent emails we again wrote to Paul Dunkerton on the morning of 12th June:

“We would like to express our collective disappointment that the TMO has chosen to ignore our request for an emergency resident meeting (made by emails on the 30th May and the 6th June) to allow those residents impacted by the recent power surge to come together and question the TMO.

Residents have not received any sort of update from the TMO for more than a week now and we demand the opportunity to ask the TMO why no action was taken by our landlords when the power surge problems first surfaced despite the fact that they were aware that residents had reported electrical appliances blowing up and catching fire.

We also want to know what caused the power surge, assurances that the problem has been properly rectified and how the TMO intend to compensate residents who have lost electrical equipment. At present, many residents have been left without washing machines, computers, televisions, etc and have no idea how the TMO intend to deal with this problem.  This is an entirely unsatisfactory situation that the TMO need to address without further delay.”

We received the following response from Mr Dunkerton, on the afternoon of the same day:

“Firstly I would like confirm that a temporary repair to electrical supply has been made and the building is safe from power surges. We have been in contact with many of our affected residents on an individual basis but I apologise for not communicating more widely.

We are undertaking inspections of electrical supply within all the affected flats, which will form part of our Periodical Electrical reports and will inform any insurance claims and applications. This does take some time due to residents’ availability for access. I’m also currently in the process of managing tests of all faulty electrical equipment reported by residents to determine whether they can be repaired. In the meantime we have contacted residents with faulty freezers or fridges individually to ensure they can get by with food.

We are unable to hold a public meeting just yet as there will be a lot of questions which we are not in a position to answer until all the inspections and testing have been completed.

I am working with my management team to draft a letter with the latest information on our action since the power surges, which we intend to send to residents this week.

I would much appreciate if you allowed me time to complete the above to ensure conclusion to this unfortunate situation.”

Mr Dunkerton’s response appears to us to be a classic example of divide and rule, intended to discourage any organised response from residents by isolating us, and dealing with us one-to-one, rather than as as a collective. We will, of course, be writing back to him to inform him that this is not acceptable, and that we believe the two weeks that the TMO has already had is long enough to come up with some answers.

We also strongly believe that the only way for us to exercise any power or control, in circumstances such as these, is by coming together to collectively demand the answers that we need, and to which we are entitled.

Residents are suffering because they have had their electrical equipment destroyed and so far the TMO is refusing to admit liability and accept responsiblity for replacing these items.  Meanwhile, impacted residents have to make do without their computers, washing machines, televisions, fridges, etc… with no indication of when this issue will be resolved.

There is also a crucial issue of health and safety involved here, and there is good reason to suspect incompetence and/or negligence by the TMO and their contractors.

This might be a good time to remind officers of both the TMO and RBKC of the Lakanal House fire disaster that claimed the lives of three women and three children in 2009.  According to evidence heard by the Lakanal inquest earlier this year, the fire was caused by a fault in a television set in one of the flats – so there is no doubt that electrical faults can and do cause lethal fires in highrise blocks. The Lakanal inquest was also highly critical of the negligence of the landlords – the local authority – which contributed significantly to the tragic outcome of the Lakanal incident.

You can read the Lakanal story here:    Lakanal – Daily Mail

In the case of Grenfell Tower it seems most unlikely that the fault was due to someone’s televison set. On the contrary there are strong indications that the electrical supply to Grenfell Tower was seriously compromised and in a highly volatile and dangerous condition for several weeks before the incident on 29th May. Any one of the power-surge incidents that occurred throughout that period might have caused a serious outbreak of fire, and the underlying fault was almost certainly caused by the incompetence and/or negligence of the TMO and their electrical contractors.

Can the TMO and RBKC really be confident that their emergency systems would have prevented serious injury and/or loss of life under such circumstances?  We think not.  It is past time that they woke up to the fact that their fire safety arrangements, particularly in blocks like Grenfell Tower, rely on inadequate and obsolete fire escape routes and associated emergency plans, and call centre staff whose feckless complacency cannot be trusted in emergencies.

This would not be the first time the TMO has tried to manage, minimise and cover-up dangerous negligence at Lancaster West. We should not accept this.

Perhaps we should now be demanding an independent investigation of these events. We won’t get the answers any faster that way, but we might eventually get the truth of what happened and who was at fault.

WHY ARE WE WAITING?

On Thursday 30th May, one day after a near catastrophic and highly dangerous power surge destroyed many electrical appliances belonging to Grenfell Tower residents, representatives from the Grenfell Action Group (GAG), the Lancaster West Residents Association (LWRA) and the Grenfell Tower Leaseholders Association (GTLA) wrote to the TMO to request an emergency meeting with residents.

Paul Dunkerton replied on behalf of the TMO, asking for more time to prepare a full response and promising that residents would be informed as soon as the cause of the problem had been identified.  We decided that it would be reasonable under the circumstances to allow them time to get their ducks in a row, to ensure that resident’s health and safety was not being further compromised, to address the ongoing electrical problems, and to sort out hassle free compensation for impacted properties. We backed off for over a week.

HOWEVER, WE BELIEVE THE TMO HAS NOW HAD TIME ENOUGH AND NEEDS TO RESPOND TO RESIDENT’S ONGOING CONCERNS AND TO PROVIDE OUR COMMUNITY WITH ANSWERS!

On that fateful weekend the TMO produced an interim briefing note for the benefit of councillors and officers at RBKC, stating that the source of the problem had been identified and ‘the building made safe’, although it did not specify the exact nature of the fault. It also stated that approximately 40 properties on the upper floors had been affected, that a number of electricity meters in individual dwellings had been ‘fused’ (ie burnt out) and that a number of electrical appliances belonging to residents had been seriously damaged. The content of this briefing note serves as compelling evidence of the seriousness of the incident that occurred on 29th May, and confirms that the TMO are at last fully aware of how serious this situation had become. Unfortunately, it was not made available to residents generally, although it was copied, by a local councillor, to the Grenfell Leaseholders Association, and thence to us.

At present, residents still do not know, because they have not been told, what caused the power surges that destroyed so much property, endangered their lives, and delivered so much heartache and distress to innocent residents of Grenfell Tower.

We do not know why the TMO allowed resident safety to be so severely compromised, and lives put at risk, by not acting promptly to resolve the problem, despite having been warned, as early as 11th May, of frequent power surges in which residents electrical appliances were catching fire and burning out.

When action was finally taken, shutting the supply down on 18th May to inspect and repair the system, electrical engineers failed to identify any problem. How could this be? Even the dogs in the street knew by this time that the Grenfell Tower power supply was in a highly volatile and dangerous state.

ANSWERS TO THIS AND OTHER QUESTIONS ARE URGENTLY NEEDED.

Many residents are still unable to replace any of their destroyed electrical equipment as no go-ahead has been given to do so by the TMO, and no money has so far been made available to assist residents with this task.

On Thursday 6th June the GAG, LWRA and the GTLA wrote back to Mr Dunkerton, but he has not yet responded. At this juncture we are no longer prepared to tolerate TMO attempts to ‘manage’ and minimise this situation in the usual fashion.

We, therefore, demand that an Emergency Residents Meeting is held forthwith and without further delay!

RESIDENTS AND THEIR REPRESENTATIVES DESERVE AND WILL ACCEPT NOTHING LESS.

BRADLEY MANNING FOR NOBEL PEACE PRIZE

Many of you will already be aware that the trial of Bradley Manning has just begun in the United States. What you may not yet know is that there is a campaign underway to nominate Private Manning for the Nobel Peace Prize, and that there is an online petition that many of you might wish to sign in support of that campaign. The link is:

ManningNobel.org

This is, of course, slightly off the beaten track for us, but we think an occasional detour from our Lancaster West campaigning is sometimes called for.

We have no doubt that this is one of those occasions, and that this is a detour that we really need to make.

WHERE DO THE CHILDREN PLAY?

Our local Labour councillors have developed an annoying habit lately of talking up anything that flows from the KALC development as if it were the best thing that ever happened to Lancaster West. Typical of this is the announcement below which featured in their recent Notting Barns Newsletter, recently delivered to some parts of the estate:

“The residents of the finger blocks, supported by local councillors, have won their bid to the Housing Regeneration Programme for a new playground in the open space between Hurstway and Testerton Walks. This means the Estate’s children will have a fantastic new outdoor playground, with the most up to date equipment, hopefully in time for this summer. This will compensate for the temporary loss of the Grenfell Tower playground, which re-opens late in 2014”

The Grenfell Playground – Before And After

The reality of this situation is very different from the spin that the Labour newsletter puts on it. Until recently residents of the ‘finger blocks’ did not favour the provision of playgrounds in the garden spaces between the blocks, preferring to protect the quiet and tranquiity of these areas. It seems that has all changed now. With  the complete destruction of Lancaster Green, and the Grenfell Tower playground, there is no longer enough space to swing a cat in the Grenfell Tower area and the children and young people who used to inhabit this space have been displaced southwards towards the bottom end of the estate. There is now a despearate need for playspace throughout this whole area which has forced the residents to abandon their former preference for the quiet of the garden spaces. This is not the great triumph that Labour spins it as, but a compromise they have been forced to accept under considerable duress.

As for the claim that the new playground will ‘hopefully’ be ready this summer, there is very little likelihood of that. The funding has only just been approved (17th May) and so far there is no sign on the horizon of a planning application for the playground works.

Meanwhile, the once beautiful, happy and well used Grenfell Tower playground has been reduced to a bomb site as a result of the KALC works.  To make matters worse no provision was made to replace or relocate this vital community resource.  As a result of this wanton vandalism, local children attending the Grenfell Tower Creche have been forced to spend their playtime in the bare concrete stairwells and general grime along one of the estate’s main thoroughfares, as this is the only outdoor space available to them. The sight of this, as illustrated in our third picture above, is surely enough to reduce even the most hard hearted to tears

The promise – for what it’s worth – of a new playground further down the block, and not easily accessible to the children of the Grenfell area, will not ‘compensate’ in any way for the loss of this playground, regardless of the grandiose claims of our local quisling councillors.

It would seem that neither the local Notting Barns Labour Group, nor anyone else with power or responsibility at the Council, gave a thought towards the well being of these children before voting to destroy this precious resource.

SHAME ON ALL OF THEM!