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Hello and welcome to this week’s Home Front. Last week, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner confirmed the remains of Grenfell Tower will have to be “sensitively” taken down at some point after the 8th anniversary of the fire which destroyed it in 2017.
The people most impacted by this news are the bereaved families of the 72 people who died in the inferno and those who managed to survive.
They have lived through unimaginable trauma and, as the Grenfell Tower Inquiry’s report concluded unequivocally last year, they have been failed repeatedly by the institutions which should have protected them.
And yet, over the weekend, a number of reports about the politics of this situation not only managed to completely obscure the human cost of the disaster, but failed to mention the building safety crisis across the country.
Instead, coverage focused on politics with some reports claiming Rayner had mishandled a meeting with bereaved families as she confirmed the Government’s decision over the future of the tower.
Bereaved families who lost their loved ones in the fire have told me this negative coverage was only adding to their “hurt” and “pain”. Some have also said they “do not recognise” the way the meeting was portrayed.
Grenfell Next of Kin, a group representing some families, say such coverage has been an inaccurate and upsetting “misrepresentation” which only serves to deflect attention away from two vital things: firstly, those who are still grieving the devastating loss of their loved ones and, secondly, the criminal investigation into who is responsible for the fire.
One member of the Next of Kin group said: “I just want to take one last walk up the steps to see my home in the tower and say goodbye. I know and accept the tower has to come down. None of these arguments are for me, or about me or my loss. I feel my loss [is] always hijacked.”
Grenfell Next of Kin told me they were glad that Rayner has decided what would happen to Grenfell Tower – even if it is difficult to hear – after almost eight years of not knowing what would happen next.
Similarly, survivors have told me that much of the coverage of last week’s decision is missing the point.
Ed Daffarn of Grenfell United – another group of bereaved families and survivors which has been more critical of the decision – escaped from his flat in the tower on the night of the fire. Before that night, he had repeatedly warned that there was a “serious” fire risk in the block.
Rayner has had to make an “impossible decision”, Daffarn told me. He added that there would “never be a good time” to make the call to take Grenfell Tower down.
The upset amongst family members and survivors is “not so much about the decision”, Daffarn added, “but the process by which it was made”, which has not always involved clear communication.
“It’s upsetting that the whole tower has to come down because some people’s family members are encased in the building,” Daffarn said, referring to the fact that the flames were so hot in some parts of the building that what human remains were found were not possible to identify.
The unthinkable horror of the Grenfell Tower fire must never be forgotten. But, because grief is not linear and because it does not affect people identically, it is understandable that bereaved families and survivors all feel they need different things to have any hope of recovering.
Rayner accused of ignoring bereaved families as Grenfell Tower to be demolished
Read MoreAt present, the charred remains of Grenfell are covered by a shroud which is topped with a banner bearing a green heart and the words: “Grenfell: forever in our hearts”.
Prior to being covered, the ruins were as imposing as they were distressing. I passed Grenfell every day for work in 2017-18 as I travelled from east to west London. I would see the tower from my train and, in the immediate aftermath of the fire, never fail to be shocked by the scale and terror of what had happened.
It’s almost impossible to imagine what it would have been like for those who lived close to Grenfell to see it every day, or for those who had lost their loved ones and homes.
This is why what happens next matters so much. Particularly because it could be 2027 before there are any criminal trials relating to the disaster as I’ve reported.
“My own view is that they should rip the shroud down so the tower shows the naked violence of what happened to our community until we get justice,” Daffarn told me. “But I realise that’s not possible because we have to take the local community into consideration.
“If the tower comes down, I hope something of height can replace it – perhaps a sculpture – it’s really important that what happened there is not obliterated.”
Ultimately, Rayner was never going to have any choice but to deliver difficult news to the Grenfell community.
This is because the structural integrity of the tower is deteriorating.
Grenfell Tower was exposed to a severe inferno. As a result of that and the fact that the building’s frame has been exposed since 2017, its structural integrity is deteriorating and requires maintenance and monitoring to ensure that it is safe for those who still live nearby.
Expert independent structural engineering advice about the future of the tower has been regularly collected and published on the Government’s website for several years. That advice has remained consistent in warning of two things: firstly, that Grenfell Tower is severely damaged above the 10th floor and, secondly, that the tower would eventually need to be carefully taken down because it will deteriorate over time.
Nonetheless, the tower’s remains are a monument to loss and pain, they are a giant headstone for those who have never been able to properly say goodbye to their loved ones. They are also a symbol of grave injustice.
Last year, the Grenfell inquiry’s report confirmed the deadly fire was caused by the building’s highly combustible cladding which was manufactured and sold by companies who knew it could be dangerous.
That report confirmed conditions which led to the tragedy were also enabled by a government drive for deregulation in the 2010s and lax building regulations which allowed dangerous cladding and insulation to be used in the first place.
Adding heartbreak on top of heartbreak, we now know that the fire brigade’s tragic advice to residents of Grenfell to “stay put” in their flats was deadly. Those working to save residents did not know that the building was so unsafe, that the fire would spread so quickly and that their advice would mean people died. Mistakes, failures and poor decision-making caused devastation at Grenfell.
And, so, I will leave you with the words of Nazanin Aghlani. I spoke with her last summer after the inquiry’s report was published. Nazanin’s mother, 65-year-old Sakineh Afrasehabi, and 59-year-old aunt, Fatima Afrasiabi, were killed while trying to escape Grenfell.
“[I want to know] that we don’t live in an animal kingdom where people can just do whatever they like… and get away with it.”
Families and survivors say they want justice. They want arrests and criminal charges. They also want to be listened to.
In Italy, where similar fires have occurred in recent years, criminal trials are already under way. This, combined with the fact that so many residential blocks remain clad in unsafe materials across Britain, has left those impacted by the Grenfell Tower fire feeling as though they do not matter.
A delicate balance must be struck between honouring the legacy of the Grenfell tragedy whilst also making the site of the tower safe for the people who live nearby in years to come.
Shortly before Christmas, I travelled to Folkestone to speak at a book festival. While there, I was approached by local artists who told me that they were being priced out by rent increases.
In my latest column, I have written about their story. These people helped to transform Folkestone into a must-visit destination for lovers of art and literature, but it is costing them dearly.
Do have a read here.
And, finally, it’s worth noting a micro announcement made by the Government over the weekend. They have said they intend to digitise the conveyancing system to speed up the process of buying and selling homes. If you’ve moved or bought a home for the first time recently, you will know that it involves mountains of paperwork and inexplicably long turnaround times. This is a move that has received very little attention but one which could streamline a complex process for the better.
Angela Rayner explained the announcement in more detail in an interview with the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg on Sunday. I was also on the show.
You can watch back here.
Ask me anything
This week’s question has come via Instagram. A frustrated leasehold homeowner wants to know “when Labour will end freehold feudalism”?
Over the weekend, housing minister Matthew Pennycook confirmed in no uncertain terms that Labour will end leasehold homeownership and push ahead with reforms to what has been described as the “feudal” freehold system.
Pennycook has started by making it easier and cheaper for leaseholders to invoke the “right to manage” their own homes as of 3 March.
The rest of the Government’s reforms to leasehold are currently being consulted on.
Send in your questions to: @Victoria_Spratt, on X, formerly Twitter, @vicky.spratt on Instagram or via email [email protected]
Vicky’s pick
I have been watching Brian and Maggie on Channel 4. This is a two-part dramatisation of the infamous 1989 interview between journalist Brian Walden and prime minister Margaret Thatcher, which triggered the end of the Iron Lady’s time in No 10.
There’s lots to love about this programme, which is based on a book by former BBC political programmes editor Rob Burley.
For me, two things stood out in particular. One is that the writers decided to include a scene which, without giving you spoilers, reveals Thatcher’s anti-ageing beauty regime. The other is that the entire series shows just how radical Thatcher was, regardless of whether you agree with her worldview or not.
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