Grenfell survivors condemn Govt's lack of action ahead of tragedy's fifth anniversary

13 June 2022, 05:31 | Updated: 13 June 2022, 08:44

Grenfell survivors and bereaved family members will mark the fifth anniversary of the deaths of 72 people on Tuesday.

In the five years since the Grenfell Tower fire, there have been four housing secretaries, three evacuated families are still awaiting permanent homes, and two phases of a public inquiry into the tragedy.

Ahead of the anniversary, survivors have condemned the Government's "lack of progress in implementing change" as they voice fears that the tragedy "will become the precursor to something bigger".

Ed Daffarn, who predicted the blaze in a blog has said the Government should be ashamed that families are still feeling "abandoned" five years later.

He escaped through choking smoke from his 16th floor flat, described Grenfell as a "tragedy in three acts" - with the final act being half a decade of "betrayal" by the housing department.

Mr Daffarn described the first "act" as mistreatment by the landlords, who failed to address health and safety concerns raised by residents, and the second as the "sheer violence and trauma" they suffered on the night of the fire.

Read more: Almost 10,000 buildings 'unsafe' with danger cladding five years on from Grenfell

The 59-year-old social worker, who lived in the tower for 15 years, said residents were "just left on the street" in the days following the fire, and they have felt "abandoned" by the Government ever since.

He said people feel this way because "nothing has changed" - few of the recommendations made by the public inquiry have been written into law, and social housing residents are still living in buildings clad with the same materials blamed for the rapid spread of the blaze on Grenfell Tower.

Mr Daffarn said: "I've lost count of how many times I've been told: 'I'm different from the last person' - and then six months later we're fighting to get an appointment with them and nothing has changed.

"Five years later on there have been small changes but the big changes haven't happened.

"The fact that tonight, disabled people who live in high-rise buildings face the exact same danger as residents of Grenfell faced on the night of June 14, 2017, should bring shame on this Government."

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Tiago Alves, his father Miguel, mother Fatima and younger sister Ines escaped from their home on the 13th floor in the early stages of the deadly blaze on June 14, 2017.

Mr Alves woke his sleeping children and alerted other residents on their floor to get out of the building that would eventually become engulfed in the smoke and flames that claimed 72 lives.

Mr and Mrs Alves and their son expressed their concern the Government is yet to implement key recommendations from the public inquiry, such as placing a legal obligation on building owners to outline Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans (PEEPs) for residents who cannot self-evacuate.

Read more: Housing Secretary unable to say how many tower blocks still have dangerous cladding

Last month, the Government said it planned to keep the controversial "stay put" policy, meaning residents of most buildings should wait for rescue services rather than leaving in the event of a fire.

Tiago Alves, 25, said: "A lot of the people who managed to survive were people who managed to get out early because they ignored 'stay put' advice.

"And so... I'm gobsmacked at the fact that we're still having this conversation five years on."

Mrs Alves, 52, added: "They won't learn from their mistakes.

Tiago Alves continued: "Why do we have to fight so hard for this? We're not experts - we're bereaved and survivors.

"We experienced what we experienced that night. Our trauma and our experience should be useful for something, for Government to actually implement changes that need to be made.

"Look at Lakanal House - it happened, there was a fire, that was the precursor to Grenfell. I'm worried if Grenfell will become the precursor to something bigger."

The family said they would like to ask Communities Secretary Michael Gove whether he would stay put if a fire broke out in a block of flats where he was living.

A Government spokeswoman said: "Our fire reforms will go further than ever before to protect vulnerable people as we are determined to improve the safety of residents whose ability to self-evacuate may be compromised.

"That is why we have launched a new public consultation seeking views on an alternative package of initiatives, building on the information garnered from the Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans consultation, that enhance the safety of those residents."

Mr Daffarn and the Alves family will be among those remembering them on Tuesday through events including a silent walk from the base of the tower at 6.30pm.

Cording around the tower will be removed so survivors, the bereaved and community groups can gather at its base for a multi-faith service and lay flowers and wreaths.

In the morning there will be a memorial service at Westminster Abbey, while a 72-second silence will be observed at Westfield shopping centre, after which the names of the 72 victims will be read out over tannoy.

Karim Mussilhy, who is part of Grenfell United, will be remembering his uncle Hesham Rahman.

The 36-year-old will spend time at his uncle's grave on the five-year anniversary, describing him as a "massive part" of his life.

He said the 72 victims are "not just names, and not just numbers" and it is important to never forget their lives and personalities.

He added: "There's nothing that we can do to heal the pain that we're going through, but at least we remember them together. "And through doing what we're doing, hopefully, one day, they can be remembered not the way that they are now by this culture of neglect, but by some positivity that came out of it, and people's lives were saved because of them."

The Grenfell Tower Inquiry advised the Government to place a legal obligation on landlords to provide a Peep for each of their disabled tenants, but ministers have not yet enforced this, partly due to cost.

Elizabeth Campbell, leader of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC) authority, said hundreds of people in the area have been given personal emergency evacuation plans.

Ms Campbell told the PA news agency the council has changed "in every way" and has adopted inquiry recommendations ahead of the Government.

Speaking at the council's headquarters in Kensington Town Hall, west London, she said: "I think only a third of people (councillors) who were there pre-Grenfell are still here.

"We've just changed in every way, but I think the main way we have changed is we now listen and we respond to people, so it's genuinely led by our communities.

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"Everything we've been asked to do from the inquiry really, we've done, ahead of any Government legislations.

"I've come back with a mandate, and the mandate is to make sure that we re-double our commitment to Grenfell."

When asked whether ministers should write the Peeps recommendation into law so it is enforced nationwide, Ms Campbell said: "I think that's up to the Government.

"Certainly, as far as we're concerned, we absolutely know where everyone is who's got a Peep and we completely appreciate where people are.

"You can't just have people with disabilities written off because they're on the 15th floor."

Ms Campbell, who has been a Conservative RBKC councillor since May 2006 and was elected leader in July 2017, said she believes the council has been "the most honest and open of any of the defendants" in the inquiry.

She told PA: "We understand that people can't have any closure until they get the truth and all we can do is be really honest about the part that we played and apologise for the mistakes that we made, because we did make them."