Tag Archives: Grenfell Tower

Baron Barwell does a bunk from Lords after Standards breach

More Tory sleaze, after a complaint from an iC reader leads to a finding that the politician broke the rules over his business declarations… and his Lordship isn’t saying whether his ‘leave of absence’ is in connection with something far … Continue reading

Posted in Business, Croydon Central, Gavin Barwell | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Fire Brigade appeals for your input in public consultation

People in Croydon have until July 25 to shape the Fire Brigade’s plan for the rest of this decade. Borough Commander Mark Edwards is urging the public to get involved and give their feedback on Your London Fire Brigade, the … Continue reading

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‘We are enraged at government whose sole focus is profit’

Grenfell United, the group representing the bereaved and survivors, this morning issued the following statement, on the fifth anniversary of the tower block fire in London that claimed the lives of 72 people Today, we remember the 72 beautiful souls … Continue reading

Posted in Charity, Community associations, Housing, London-wide issues | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Five years after Grenfell tragedy, firefighters’ job cuts continue

On the anniversary of the Grenfell Tower tragedy in which 72 people died in 2017, the Fire Brigades Union has revealed that another 221 firefighter positions have been cut. The union says that these latest job cuts come after several … Continue reading

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Bussetti found guilty over his ‘disgusting’ Grenfell video

Paul Bussetti, the South Norwood man who posted a “disgusting” and “abhorrent” video of a Grenfell Tower model on social media, has been given a 10-week suspended jail sentence after admitting his crime. Bussetti, 49, pleaded guilty at Westminster Magistrates’ … Continue reading

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Grenfell inquiry set to quiz Barwell over ignored warnings

Former Conservative housing minister is set to give evidence about his part in what has been described as ‘one of the greatest public policy failures anywhere in the modern world’ Gavin Barwell, the former Croydon MP who as housing minister … Continue reading

Posted in Gavin Barwell, Housing, London Fire Brigade, London-wide issues | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Officials knew dangers of cladding 15 years before Grenfell

Evidence given at the inquiry into the deaths of 72 people in North Kensington in 2017 show that the priority of successive governments was always ‘the demands of corporate interests above the needs of people’, according to a union leader … Continue reading

Posted in Croydon Central, Gavin Barwell, Housing, London-wide issues | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Prime Minister refuses to offer help on Bridge House cladding

Tory Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who thinks nothing of getting rich party donors to pay for lavish gold flock wallpaper costing tens of thousands of pounds for his Downing Street flat, has this week refused to offer help to hard-pressed … Continue reading

Posted in Boris Johnson, Business, Croydon Central, Housing, Sarah Jones MP, Surrey Street | Tagged , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Judge Bean orders retrial over notorious Grenfell video

Paul Bussetti, a regular at the South Norwood Conservative Club who became nationally notorious after filming a video of a cardboard model of Grenfell Tower being burned on a bonfire, must face a re-trial, a High Court judge has ruled. … Continue reading

Posted in South Norwood | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Barratts buy back Citiscape’s 95 cladding-blighted flats

Citiscape, the Barratts-built residential tower block on Drummond Road and Frith Road in Old Town, has become the first in Britain to be bought back by its builders in order to resolve issues around the building’s dangerous Grenfell-like aluminium composite … Continue reading

Posted in Business, Fairfield, Housing, Property | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Barwell and four ex-ministers summoned to Grenfell inquiry

Gavin Barwell, the former Conservative MP for Croydon Central, is one of five former government ministers who will be called to give evidence to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry in the autumn. “Lord” Barwell is to be summoned together with his … Continue reading

Posted in Gavin Barwell, Housing | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Grenfell victims still waiting for Barwell’s inquiry summons

CROYDON COMMENTARY:  The former Croydon Central MP this week backed calls for a public inquiry to be held urgently into the Conservative government’s mishandling of its response to the coronavirus pandemic. But as one loyal reader observes, ‘Lord’ Barwell has … Continue reading

Posted in Gavin Barwell | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Hold very tight: will Buss give Brick by Brick a rough ride?

Our Town Hall reporter, KEN LEE, on how the local council troubleshooter who was brought in to deal with Kensington and Chelsea’s finances in the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower fire has now been hired by Croydon In the final … Continue reading

Posted in Alison Butler, Brick by Brick, Business, Colonnades, Croydon Council, Croydon Park Hotel, Jo Negrini, Katherine Kerswell, Paul Scott, Simon Hall, Tony Newman | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

‘Utter disgrace’: 2,000 buildings still at risk from cladding

Three years since 72 people died in the Grenfell Tower disaster, more than 2,000 high-risk residential buildings are still covered with dangerous cladding, according to a parliamentary committee. The situation has been slammed as “an utter disgrace” by the Fire … Continue reading

Posted in Housing, London Fire Brigade | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

‘Barren’ Barwell is not fit to sit on housing association board

Gavin Barwell, a “not very successful career politician”, should never have been appointed to the board of Clarion, the country’s largest housing association. That’s the view of Rob Gershon, a prominent activist for tenants’ rights, in a devastating critique of … Continue reading

Posted in Gavin Barwell, Housing | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Residents living in fear of fire in council-run housing blocks

Despite condemning office-to-flat conversions, Croydon Council has been using three such buildings to provide temporary housing. A year after a Fire Brigade inspection found the blocks unsafe, improvement works have still not finished, leaving residents forced to live on a … Continue reading

Posted in Alison Butler, Croydon Council, Croydon North, London Fire Brigade, Norbury, Planning, Thornton Heath | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Mayor refuses to say if Barwell was questioned over Grenfell

Unlike most people when newly out of work, gaffe-prone Gavin Barwell didn’t spend his first day of unemployment looking for a new job. The £150,000 per year Downing Street chief of staff until Boris Johnson’s coronation on Wednesday, Barwell spent … Continue reading

Posted in Caroline Pidgeon, Gavin Barwell, London-wide issues, Mayor of London, Policing, Sadiq Khan, Steve Reed MP | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

MP Jones calls on government to spend £1bn on sprinklers

Today marks 10 years since the Lakanal House fire in Southwark, where six people – including young mothers and their infant children – were killed when flames and smoke spread through a council-owned high-rise. Yet an investigation conducted by Sarah … Continue reading

Posted in Croydon Central, Gavin Barwell, Sarah Jones MP | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Did Barwell have his collar felt over the Grenfell fire tragedy?

Political editor WALTER CRONXITE on the continuing interrogation of senior Tory government figures over their inaction and incompetence Is it possible that Gavin Barwell, one of a string of Tory housing ministers who before the 2017 Grenfell Tower tragedy failed … Continue reading

Posted in Croydon Central, Croydon North, Gavin Barwell, Sarah Jones MP, Steve Reed MP | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Barwell and the ignored warnings that led to Grenfell tragedy

Gavin Barwell, the former housing minister and sometime Conservative MP for Croydon Central, could be hauled up before the public inquiry into the Grenfell disaster after an investigation by the website Inside Housing today published correspondence which shows that he, … Continue reading

Posted in Croydon Central, Croydon Council, Gavin Barwell, Sarah Jones MP | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Abuse and insults fly after ‘not guilty’ plea over Grenfell effigy

Millionaire property owner Paul Bussetti this week entered not guilty pleas at Westminster Magistrates’ Court to charges brought following the filming and sharing last year of a sick video of a burning effigy of Grenfell Tower. This week’s court hearing, … Continue reading

Posted in South Norwood | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Manchester and Birmingham join Croydon’s sprinkler campaign

The council press office described it as “doorstepping” the Prime Minister, as MP Sarah Jones and council deputy leader Alison Butler were part of a group which handed in a letter signed by 15 local authorities to try to shame … Continue reading

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Hundreds march through South Norwood to support Grenfell

More than 300 people, plus TV crews and newspaper reporters, turned out in South Norwood last night to show solidarity with Grenfell and reject racism. But who was the only one to talk to the reporter from The Sun? KEN … Continue reading

Posted in Clive Fraser, Community associations, Ken Towl, Niro Sirisena, Patsy Cummings, Paul Scott, South Norwood, South Norwood Tourist Board | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Grenfell bonfire effigy prompts South Norwood silent march

Residents and community groups in South Norwood are coming together for a silent march next Wednesday, in solidarity with the victims of the Grenfell Tower fire and to demonstrate their rejection of the racist bigotry displayed earlier this week in … Continue reading

Posted in Community associations, South Norwood, South Norwood Community Kitchen, South Norwood Tourist Board | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Grenfell Tower and the impact on communities, CVA, Sep 20

Off The Record Youth Counselling service, in association with the Croydon BME Forum, is staging a panel discussion next week on the impact on the community response to last year’s Grenfell fire in north London, which claimed the lives of … Continue reading

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