Camden pulls together to get the job done

Councillor Georgia Gould, Leader of Camden Council, said:

“I want to thank residents for their patience and co-operation during what is such a difficult time for them. I’ve spent a lot of time at the reception centre at Swiss Cottage and at the Chalcots estate and I’ve met so many amazing people who are getting through this situation with great courage and grace. They are looking out for each other, and even when their own arrangements have been taken care of, they are making sure that their neighbours are safe and sound too. This is what Camden is all about and despite the disruptions, the distress and the difficulty, the spirit of our borough shines through all of this. I’m hugely grateful to be able to play my part in getting things sorted out and I won’t stop until residents are safely back in their homes.

“The evacuation decision was taken to protect lives. While the Grenfell fire changes everything for us all, it should not take a tragedy to put extra focus on fire safety in buildings.

“Many residents have asked me questions about how these buildings reached the point where they had to be evacuated. I am determined to work with residents to get answers to all of these questions because I never want people to have to go through something like this again. My priority right now is to support residents and ensure they are appropriately housed, and ultimately to get them safely back into their homes as quickly as possible.

"I want everyone pushing in the same direction - the Council, the Government, political parties of all colours and the emergency services - to get this fixed. Our residents expect nothing less. I am also very clear that our order of up to 1,000 doors, highlighted yesterday, is to ensure we have enough to replace all of the doors in the blocks with the latest high standard fire doors and make these properties safe for residents. We look forward to the ongoing support of the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government with this.

"Teams of council staff will be on site again today, with social workers, housing allocations staff, and youth workers talking to residents and doing all they can to help this operation move along as quickly and as safely as possible. I do understand that this is an extremely difficult time and we’re working with individual households to find appropriate temporary accommodation for their specific family needs.

"Once again I thank residents for bearing with us. We will continue to share the latest information with our residents who are our number one priority."

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