Council back down over decision not to rehouse Grenfell neighbours

The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC) has backed down over their plans not to rehouse tenants living around Grenfell Tower.

At a meeting last night, the Council reversed its proposal not to rehouse residents of around 80 properties in the shadow of Grenfell Tower.

Last summer, RBKC published rehousing policies for former residents of Grenfell Tower and Grenfell Walk, but failed to publish any policy relating to nearby Treadgold House and Bramley House, despite the fact that many residents were either evacuated or chose to leave their homes on the night of the fire, and do not wish to return. RBKC suggested that residents in Treadgold and Bramley Houses had not been severely affected by the fire.

In November 2017, a further rehousing policy was published for the surrounding areas but Treadgold and Bramley Houses were again ignored. At the same time, RKBC began a consultation allowing for tenants of nearby blocks to submit their concerns about the draft policy.

London law firm Hodge Jones & Allen was then instructed by a number of residents to challenge the lawfulness of RKBC’s decision not to rehouse residents of Treadgold and Bramley Houses.

One of the firm’s clients, former Bramley House resident, Karrie John-Haynes, who with her teenage son has been living in a hotel since the fire, says: “It is a disgusting, horrible experience going back to Bramley House. The windows at the front of the property, in the kitchen and bathroom, and the communal balcony all look straight onto the Tower. When I am there I just remember everything. I remember the kids shouting, and I can see the windows and know exactly which one’s that people jumped from.”

The Council’s decision to overturn its original stance on Treadgold and Bramley Houses as part of a Wider Grenfell Rehousing Policy means that all tenants of Treadgold and Bramley Houses will now get priority on the Housing Register and can access alternative permanent accommodation elsewhere, rather than being forced to remain at the properties, or applying as homeless.

Daniel Fitzpatrick, a partner in the housing team says: “This is a victory for common-sense. RBKC should immediately have recognised its duty to re-house the traumatised residents of neighbouring blocks and not put them through almost nine months of uncertainty.”

ENDS

The policy is available here.

For further information, please contact:
Kerry Jack at Black Letter Communications
kerry.jack@blacklettercommunications.co.uk

020 3567 1208

Notes for Editors

Hodge Jones and Allen

• Hodge Jones and Allen is one of the UK’s most progressive law firms, renowned for doing things differently and fighting injustice. Its managing partner is Patrick Allen, recently awarded a lifetime achievement award by Solicitors Journal.
• For 40 years’ the firm has been at the centre of many of the UK’s landmark legal cases that have changed the lives and rights of many people.
• The firm’s team of specialists have been operating across: Personal Injury, Medical Negligence, Industrial Disease, Civil Liberties, Criminal Defence, Court of Protection, Dispute Resolution, Employment, Family Law, Military Claims, Serious Fraud, Social Housing, Wills & Probate and Property Disputes.
• In 2016, the firm launched Hearing their voices – a campaign to raise awareness and build conversations around the issues and the injustices we might all face.