Grenfell: We need a new council with new ideas says Green Party
6 September 2017
The Green Party has called for the full resignation of the Kensington and Chelsea Council Cabinet after it was revealed that of 196 households who survived the Grenfell fire, only 29 have been found new permanent accommodation [1].
The party says that the resulting byelections would give local residents the opportunity to vote for “leaders in whom they have faith”.
The party has also said that a new council should commit to a set of “radical” policies to help house survivors from the Grenfell fire including a new agreement that social housing must take planning and building priority going forwards.
The Green Party candidate for Kensington Jennifer Nadel said:
“It is utterly scandalous that the majority of survivors from Grenfell have still not been housed. Many are living crammed into tiny hotel rooms unable to begin the process of healing from their trauma and grief rebuilding their lives.
“It shows yet again that this council is not fit for purpose. The same councillors who presided over the tragedy and the appalling failures that followed still have their seats. They should resign now triggering by-elections so that residents can elect leaders in whom they can have faith. It is a continuing insult that they remain in place while residents who have lost everything have not even been housed. The council has the money to solve this problem, what it lacks is the will and that has to change.
“A new council with fresh ideas could commit to a radical set of reforms including taking hold of empty homes to house residents, the conversion of abandoned buildings into new social housing, and an agreement that from now on the priority will be to build social homes rather than to give planning permission for more new, expensive, private homes that are beyond the reach of most residents.”
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