EALING'S DANGEROUS TOWER BLOCKS
There are four tower blocks in Ealing with dangerous cladding. The Council, however, has refused to say where they are. It is relying on Government Guidance not to reveal locations. It is not mandatory to follow Guidance. The “received wisdom” is that it should be followed unless a local authority has a good reason for acting against it. There is every reason in this case to disregard it. My local councillor, Yvonne Johnson, has told me that the Council conducted a survey of tower blocks. The dangerous ones were evidently not ones belonging to the Council, but the question remains: Where are they? There are further questions. At what level in the Council and by whom specifically was it decided to follow Guidance and keep the locations secret? Does the Council, while not owning them, house people there? Who does own them? (If we knew the addresses, we could discover the owners’ names from the Land Registry). Have the owners done anything about the situation? Are there still people living in them? Allowing the public to know the locations and so the identity of the freehold owners of the properties would serve the purpose of putting pressure on them to do something about their dangerous buildings. The Grenfell tragedy affected not only the residents of that block; it also affected the wider neighbourhood. The neighbours of these towers have every right to know they are living near to dangerous buildings. This is not a situation in which secrecy is appropriate. The information that is needed involves third parties (the owners of the blocks), but this is a case where the confidentially that might enjoy should be set aside in the interest of the greater public good.
Andrew Farmer ● 2749d1 Comments