Leader of Kensington and Chelsea Council Nicholas Paget-Brown offered to QUIT over response to Grenfell fire – but his colleagues STOPPED him
THE LEADER of Kensington and Chelsea Council offered to quit over the handling of the Grenfell tower fire - but his colleagues rejected his resignation.
Nicholas Paget-Brown is believed to have volunteered to stand aside after deep criticisms of the response to the tower block fire last week, which has claimed the lives of at least 79 people.
reported that Mr Paget Brown had offered up his resignation yesterday at a meeting of the council cabinet.
But it was unanimously rejected by other councillors. Yesterday he refused to say whether he would quit - and insisted that the Council's response was "effective".
Victims of the fire have repeatedly hit out for the uncoordinated efforts on the ground, which they say was mainly run by volunteers and not the Council.
The council - which is at the centre of a police investigation into the deadly blaze - has been sidelined from the relief effort and has been replaced with a taskforce run jointly by the boss of Southwark Council, the Government, the Met Police and the British Red Cross.
The town hall faces questions over materials used in the council’s £8.6 million refurb of Grenfell Tower - with claims that cheap cladding was to blame for spreading the fire.
Today the newly-elected Labour MP for Kensington, Emma Dent Coad, described to Sky News the chaos of people sleeping "in cars and in parks because they don't know where to go and they aren't being looked after."
She slammed the “appalling” coordination of the response to the Grenfell Tower fire and said people were still “running around like headless chickens” as she called for more ways of “communicating what is going on because I don’t know”.
She went on: "A lot of people are concerned about benefit - if they are getting lump sums of money if that’s going to affect their benefits; we’ve had that confirmed this morning that that’s not going to have any effect at all.
“How we get the word out about that is another matter altogether, because even I as their MP going round the streets have people pleading to me for help - I still don’t have the contacts that I need to point people in the right direction.”
Theresa May has said the help on the ground "was not good enough" and has made efforts to help structure services.
A Grenfell Fire Response Team has been set up to improve support for victims.
The Government confirmed that every family left homeless by the fire would receive hundreds in handouts - and £5,000 sums have already been started to be distributed as part of a £5m fund.
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Mr Paget Brown told the Standard today: "We are all heartbroken by the tragic fire and the appalling loss of life at Grenfell Tower.
“Our hearts go out to the victims, their families and friends and to the residents and wider community. In the circumstances it has of course been appropriate to ensure that as leader... I continue to have the support of my colleagues.
“They have said overwhelmingly that they back me and are behind my key priority at the moment, which is to work with Government, charities, volunteer and resident groups and the emergency services to rehouse and assist all those affected.”
Mr Paget-Brown also said last week that the residents didn't want the "disruption" of sprinklers being installed in the tower blocks.
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan warned Theresa May she will risk "fuelling mistrust" if she fails to include survivors in the public inquiry she announced last week.
He insisted the local community must be involved in deciding the scope and terms of reference of the probe in order to avoid accusations the Government is trying to "suppress the facts".
In a letter to the PM Mr Khan wrote: “The inquiry must be a thorough and detailed process which standards of representation, investigation, disclosure, evidence and questioning that are no less than would be provided at the most rigorous of inquests.
“Relations with the local community can be further strengthened is by ensuring families, survivors and civil society groups have a role in drawing up the terms of reference for the public inquiry and are consulted on where Inquiry hearings are held. Any attempt to exclude them from the process risks further fuelling mistrust.”
Yesterday four more victims of the inferno were named, including a grandfather.
Khadija Khalloufi, 52, tried to flee the blaze with husband Sabdah, but he lost his grip on her hand during their dash for the exit.
The family of Anthony Disson, 65, said: "Our family are devastated at receiving the news that Tony sadly did not survive the fire at Grenfell Tower."
Also identified was Khadija Saye, 24, who had been named by friends and family last week, as well as Abufars Ibrahim, 39.
It was also reported yesterday that firefighters had put OUT the fridge fire that sparked the inferno, but the blaze still spread up the building.
Crews thought they had extinguished the flames, but colleagues spotted flames rising up the side of the high rise bloc of flats.
It comes amid claims ministers were repeatedly warned that fire regulations in high rise blocks were not keeping people safe.
Panorama that leaked letters show ministers were warned that people living in high rise blocks like Grenfell Tower were "at risk".
The dozen letters, sent by the All-Party Parliamentary Fire Safety and Rescue Group in the aftermath of a 2009 fatal fire in Lakanal House, south London, warned the Government "could not afford to wait for another tragedy", according to Panorama.
The parliamentary group wrote in March 2014: "Surely ... when you already have credible evidence to justify updating ... the guidance ... which will lead to saving of lives, you don't need to wait another three years in addition to the two already spent since the research findings were updated, in order to take action?
"As there are estimated to be another 4,000 older tower blocks in the UK, without automatic sprinkler protection, can we really afford to wait for another tragedy to occur before we amend this weakness?"