Grenfell survivors barred from council meeting about fire
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Version 1 of 8. Survivors of the Grenfell Tower disaster and the media have been banned from the first meeting of senior councillors since the fire to avoid “disruption”, fuelling opposition fears of a cover-up. Kensington and Chelsea council is to hold a private cabinet meeting led by the council’s Conservative leader, Nicholas Paget-Brown, who has been widely criticised in the wake of the fire. It was to be held behind closed doors on Wednesday evening to avoid a repeat of protests on the Friday after the fire when angry residents stormed the town hall. Councillors will discuss the Grenfell Tower fire, according to a notice on the local authority’s website, joined by support officers and “invited guests (if any)”. The only subject on the agenda is the fire, in which at least 80 people died. This will be an “oral item”, with no written report. This would mean the only public knowledge or record of the meeting would be the minutes, which will not be immediately available. The Labour councillor Judith Blakeman, who sits on the board of the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation, which runs the borough’s housing, said: “The Labour group believe it is a grave mistake to exclude representatives of the Grenfell survivors, others who have been affected by the fire and also the media. We believe this will only give credence to the view that there is a cover-up in progress and we do not accept the excuse that there may be violence.” She added: “The Labour group have already called for the resignation of the entire cabinet.” The National Union of Journalists urged the council to lift the ban. Séamus Dooley, its acting general secretary, said: “Decisions of the council should be open to scrutiny and conveyed to the public via independent media. Secrecy is the default position of those who seek to avoid accountability for their actions and on this occasion there is no room for anything less than complete transparency.” The council notice says: “Please note this meeting will be held entirely in private session, pursuant to Standing Order 31.01, in the light of the risk of disruption (as witnessed on Friday 16 June) and consequent security and public safety concerns. “As such it will be open only to council members, support officers and invited guests (if any). The public minutes of this meeting will be published, in due course, on the council website.” It is unclear whether any survivors have been invited to the meeting as guests. It is also not clear on what legal basis, if any, the council plans to bar the media. A council spokesman said he did not know, and asked the Guardian to send any queries by email. In response to this, a council spokesman said: “As you are aware there have been recent real threats and assaults on council staff and damage to one of the office buildings. “Such risks remain and we have had to take the decision to hold the meeting in private as to do otherwise would likely result in disorder.” The statement said the decision to exclude the public was made in accordance with the council’s standing orders “which are confirmed in common law”. However, it gave no reason why the press were also excluded. The council has come under intense criticism for its response to the disaster, with many residents claiming they were left to fend for themselves. Its chief executive, Nicholas Holgate, resigned last week, after pressure from the communities secretary, Sajid Javid. Calls have been made for Paget-Brown to follow, with London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, demanding the resignation of the entire council leadership. On 16 June, dozens of protesters stormed Kensington town hall in west London as anger boiled over about its handling of the situation, with crowds yelling: “We want justice now.” |