Chalcots estate

• I AM increasingly mystified by Camden’s over-reaction to their tower blocks in Swiss Cottage (Chalcots: we demand answers, June 29).

Yes, the residents needed reassurance and protection against the risk of fire, but that could have been provided on a temporary basis by posting 24-hour fire marshals in every block, until internal works on fire doors and gas pipes were completed.

They could even have turned off the gas supply, with minimal problems. With close supervision, the risk of disaster in the few weeks we hope these repairs will take would have been minimal.

Instead of this Camden has disrupted the lives of all the families involved, at a cost of millions of pounds, causing alarm and fear which will stay with them for years, even after they return to their homes.

I remain to be convinced that the cladding was the key cause of the fire at Grenfell Tower and, if I was paying, I would want clear reports from the fire investigators that the cladding was the only, or at least the main direct cause.

So far the evidence presented is lacking: the report that every single panel sample so far tested has failed leads to only two conclusions: that the testing or sampling process is wrong, or that every building product designer, all fire-safety testing authorities, and every local authority inspector involved in designing buildings across the whole of Britain is incompetent or worse. Is that likely?

And don’t forget that the panels concerned are used around the world, can everyone be wrong or stupid enough to install dangerous materials in such applications?

You reported that the fire in the Taplow block in 2012 only affected the flat where it started; was that just luck, or was the cladding done with different materials?

By now the fire specialists having to search through the mess left in Grenfell Tower must have some idea of what happened after the fridge-freezer started the fire. They must know how it spread through the first flat and, vitally, how it escaped from that flat and then spread so rapidly up the building.

Was the cladding the only cause of this, or were other parts of the construction involved, such as the window frames and the thermal insulation materials installed at the same time as the cladding? These are directly attached to the walls of the building, closer to where the fire started, so must be a prime candidates for concern.

And before we go too far in blaming Tory austerity cuts for the problem, let’s not forget the refurbishment works were done over a decade ago, under the last Labour government.

But the council and its contractors, inspectors and the rest are responsible for the failures we are reading about now, so that’s where the focus should be placed.

And one final question: why have Camden’s planners just removed a key hurdle allowing a private developer to build a 24-storey tower at Swiss Cottage, right above the tube station, and with only one fire-safe escape route?

DAVID REED
Eton Avenue, NW3