Grenfell Tower fire: Government sends in taskforce to take over parts of Kensington and Chelsea Council

A specialist taskforce will be sent into run key services of Kensington and Chelsea Council in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire.

Communities Secretary, Sajid Javid said an independent Recovery Taskforce would assist with the longer term recovery of the area.

‘The scale of the recovery effort needed on the Lancaster West estate in the months to come cannot be underestimated,’ he said.

‘Support to survivors, the families and friends of those who lost their lives and residents in the wider community must and will be ongoing.

‘The challenge of providing that support is and will continue to be significant. I want to help the council meet that challenge.

‘As well as providing that immediate support, we must have an eye to the future. This intervention is putting in place the foundations that will support the longer term recovery.’

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The move, which follows heavy criticism of the council’s response to the disaster, stops short of demands from London mayor Sadiq Khan for ministers to appoint external commissioners to take over the running of the whole borough.

At least 80 people were killed in the disaster on June 14, and criticism of the council’s handling has seen both the council leader and chief executive resign.

The announcement was welcomed by new council leader Elizabeth Campbell, who was elected following the resignation at the weekend of Nicholas Paget-Brown.

‘We have a lot of very dedicated council staff working to provide help and support to those affected by the Grenfell Tower fire,’ she said.

‘But the unprecedented scale of this incident makes it impossible for one organisation to cope on its own.

‘That’s why my first action as leader was to ask DCLG (Department for Communities and Local Government) for help, and I’m delighted they have been so swift to respond.

‘I look forward to working with their staff as we all concentrate our efforts on healing the wounds in the north of our borough and to regain the trust of a community traumatised by disaster.’

The new team is expected to be phased in as the current Grenfell Tower response team is gradually wound down following the immediate aftermath of the fire.

Eleanor Kelly, chief executive of Southwark Council and spokeswoman for the Grenfell Response Team, said the taskforce would be ‘very welcome’.

She told BBC Radio London: ‘This is a disaster on a national scale and there are responses that are necessary, particularly within the communities of North Kensington, that are well outside of business as usual.

‘We can’t stay in a crisis mode for an extended period of time because everybody needs to actually feel that things have gone back to a level of stability [and] a level of control.’

The vast majority of residents displaced by the fire are still living in hotel rooms or other temporary accommodation.

Only 14 households hoping to be moved out of emergency accommodation have accepted offers for more permanent living arrangements, Grenfell Response Team said.

Campaigners and residents claim little headway has been made, with residents said to have been offered properties that are either out of the borough, too expensive or on a one-year contract.

Some 139 offers had been made following 158 housing needs assessments by Wednesday – the three-week deadline the government set itself for offering housing to all of those displaced by the blaze.