• SURELY the central point about several reports in the August 24 CNJ concerning housing was the death of a council tenant and the conviction of Camden Council for repeated failures over four years to install legally-required fire safety measures.

The “Town Hall leader” should put up her hands for this failure rather than try to offload the blame on Michael Gove, (Town Hall leader clashes with Gove over fire safety in homes).

It is all very well to start now on a programme of fire measures in some 6,000 council homes some six years after a disaster, but this was only after a damning report from the Regulator of Social Housing.

Who are the officers and senior councillors responsible for the 2017 Daleham Gardens tragedy? Has there been an investigation or is it being swept under the carpet?

At the heart of the matter was the failure of “managers” to listen to the residents of the property; or rather to ignore repeated warnings.

Councillors and officers seem totally oblivious to complaints and warnings of residents. Many of these, as your newspaper shows, are about housing and regeneration.

Examples include the catastrophic refurbishment of Chalcots estate leading to a mass evacuation and the actual decline in the number of council rent homes in our area (Gospel Oak and Haverstock wards).

Repairs and allocations are, seemingly, in chaos but we hear little from Cllr Meric Apek, the cabinet member responsible.

There is a fundamental and system problem which cannot be blamed solely on government cuts and the right-to-buy legislation.

There needs to be a full and independent review of the council’s housing policies and the replacement of those who have brought us to this sorry state.

MICK FARRANT, NW5