Cllr Georgia Gould

• I WANTED to use our local newspaper to update Camden residents on the unprecedented evacuation that took place at Chalcots over the weekend.

I want to start by thanking the people of Camden. The borough has pulled together in the most amazing way.

We’ve had staff cancelling holidays, councillors of all parties staying up night after night and our voluntary sector, local businesses and religious communities doing everything they can to help. The spirit of Camden has been a powerful force this weekend.

But most of all I want to thank the residents of Chalcots who have responded with grace and resilience to the distress and disruption of the last few days.

I also wanted to thank the New Journal for your balanced and calm coverage over the weekend that has helped to keep many informed. We are lucky to have independent local press who are dedicated to local people.

I have made some big decisions in the last week and I stand by them. In time we will look back, take stock and investigate and review everything that has happened, from the processes used and decisions made over the years, to the operation that continues as I write.

But for now, I wanted to provide a summary of the sequence of events. As soon as we saw the terrible devastation at Grenfell we started fire checking our blocks with priority given to Chalcots as the PFI sub-contractor was the same as at Grenfell.

Camden was first in the queue to check cladding and I discovered late Wednesday that the panelling at Chalcots did not meet the safe standards Camden had commissioned.

At that point fire safety experts advised that 24/7 fire wardens would make the building safe for residents as we removed the cladding.

We held a public meeting on Thursday night with residents who raised with me a number of concerns about internal works to the blocks. Following this we had the fire services in all day doing extra checks and at 5pm on Friday they gave me their assessment – the combination of the cladding with a number of internal issues made the building unsafe for residents to stay in overnight.

The most critical issue being insulation and fire stops on gas pipes. I was prepared to take any action to keep people safe in their homes while we did these urgent works but the fire services said there was nothing I could do to ensure safety that night.

I made the very difficult decision to evacuate the blocks. Grenfell changes everything and I was not prepared to take a risk with residents’ safety.

We worked around the clock over the weekend to secure emergency accommodation for residents of Chalcots. We did the best we could in difficult circumstances but I know this has been a deeply distressing experience for all involved.

If there are residents from Chalcots who need any help please email chalcotsestate@camden.gov.uk, call 020 7974 4444 or come to the information centre at Swiss Cottage library.

Our focus and all of our efforts are now on getting the job done. We have 100 people on site doing emergency works and everything is being checked by fire engineers.

The events of the last few days raise huge questions about fire regulations, fire safety and the PFI contract. I want to reassure you that no one is more determined to get answers to these questions than me. I never want residents to have to go through something like this again.

I will be making sure that every single issue raised local and nationally is investigated fully and reported transparently.

But right now the job in hand is to get people safely housed and to get urgent works finished so Chalcots residents can return home.

At the same time we continue to make safety checks to other Camden blocks and we will keep you updated. Your safety is my number one priority. And we will leave no stone unturned to guarantee it.

CLLR GEORGIA GOULD
Leader of Camden Council