Cartoon: John Sadler

• I AM not condemning council leader Georgia Gould for her decision to evacuate the Chalcots blocks – someone had to make a decision and, on the advice she received from London Fire Brigade, I believe she had no choice.

My concerns are to do with the information released by Cllr Gould and LFB during Friday. In a press conference on Friday afternoon Cllr Gould said the reason for the evacuation was because of the combustible nature of the cladding on the Chalcot blocks.

But in reply to a Twitter question from a resident on Friday evening she said this: “fire service identified issues around gas insulation and door stops which with flammable panels means unsafe”. Why did she add gas insulation and door stops and yet did not mention this at the earlier press conference?

The council then released this statement: “Following last week’s tragic fire at Grenfell Tower, Camden Council, working with the LFB, immediately reviewed fire safety at all our high-rise blocks. On Friday evening the LFB advised that there were a number of fire safety issues, that we and the LFB were previously unaware of…”

I do not understand how the council did not know there was an issue with the gas insulation. Did they not inspect the work to see what had been done previously; or was this something outside their remit? In addition, door stops are mentioned; how did the council not know that these were dangerous and when were these last inspected?

On the LFB website it said this: “LFB have been working at the Chalcots estate with Camden Council. Following extensive joint visits and inspections the brigade advised that there were a number of fire safety issues in the buildings and recommended that residents should not remain in the buildings until these issues are resolved.

“Camden Council have acted on this by evacuating and providing the residents with alternative accommodation so that remedial works can go ahead as quickly as possible. LFB officers will continue to work with Camden to put in place measures to improve safety for residents in these buildings.”

Although Cllr Gould took the decision, there are certain issues the council should have picked up on much earlier and they did not. It begs the question: If the Grenfell Tower tragedy had not happened, how would the residents of the Chalcots have ever found out about these serious life-threatening issues?

DAVID GOWERS
Broxwood Way, NW8