The decision has been taken. Grenfell Tower is to be demolished, some seven and a half years since 72 people died in the fire which engulfed the West London tower block.
Deputy Prime Minister and Housing Secretary Angela Rayner met local residents on Wednesday evening, and the official announcement this lunchtime confirmed that the tower would be “carefully taken down to the ground”.
The process will take up to two years and won’t begin until after the eighth anniversary of the fire on June 14.
Some residents had wanted the tower to remain; others for the bottom ten floors to be left. Feelings ran high at the meeting, with some blasting the Government for lack of engagement.
Grenfell Tower remains covered in wrapping
GB News
Next to the tower earlier today, feelings were mixed.
Jane, who has lived locally for 50 years told GB News, didn’t go to the meeting "because of the anticipated atmosphere and the very strong feelings of us who have been here for a very long time…what’s the purpose to go to a meeting with people whose ears are already closed and for us to have no voice? It’s just not right".
Kimi, from Grenfell Next of Kin, told GB News that Rayner and others had made numerous visits to talk to locals and that she should be commended for taking the difficult decision that others had dodged for years.
The blackened tower has been shrouded in white for years, with a green heart at the top and the words “Grenfell - forever in our hearts."
LATEST ON THE GRENFELL TOWER:
Marcio Gomes of Grenfell United speaks on stage following a silent walk near Grenfell TowerPA
Grenfell Tower, pictured a few days after the firePAHowever, the structure is being propped up and engineers have advised that it is "significantly damaged" and that its condition is deteriorating over time.
Emma Spinola has lived next to the tower since she was born and says it’s the right decision. She told GB News she tries not to walk past the tower, and when the light shines through it at sunset it shows the outline of the blackened shell.
She has been moved into temporary accommodation several times since the fire with her two young children while safety work is carried out in her own flat.
Yet around a third of a million people are still living in high-rise buildings with unsafe cladding, worried about a repeat of the horrors of 2017. Owners are unable to sell.
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner
GB NEWSAn inquiry found multiple failings led to the deaths; the fire began with a faulty fridge, but was hugely worsened due to flammable cladding. And occupants were told to “stay put”, when in fact those who survived largely ignored instructions from officials.
Yet criminal prosecutions have yet to begin while blame has been passed and accountability has been dodged. Kimi begins to cry talking to GB News as she explained mental health support was given for a year but now she says "we’re on our own".
She says they hadn’t even wanted the cladding, that there had been fires before and they’d just been put out.
The cladding was to make the tower “look nice”, but residents had been concerned about safety well before the fire and were ignored. And a cheaper cladding was used to cut costs, which should never have been used on such a tall building.
Members of the public at the memorial at the base of Grenfell Tower in London in 2022 on the five year anniversary PAEmma told GB News: "Living here and looking at it every day doesn’t help so this is something that needs to happen for us to all be able to move on with our lives."
The community will need to agree to the best way to remember those who died, but as Emma says "we will never forget them".
Everyone wants people to be held to account and no-one to be living in unsafe housing.
No-one is confident either will happen.
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