Radical Housing Network
1 hr ·
Over 200 Southwark households learned this week that they may be living in a potential fire trap - full story below.
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The residents in four 13 storey tower blocks in the Ledbury estate were told on Friday by their landlord, Southwark Council, that cracks in their buildings mean they need to take additional fire safety measures. Residents understand that these cracks have compromised the compartmentalisation of the buildings which is essential to contain any fire in a single flat but no specific details have been provided. 24 hour fire wardens have been in place since Friday night but no new instructions have been issued to tenants about whether the ‘stay put’ policy in the event of a fire is still in place.
Dozens of concerned residents turned out on the green in the estate on Sunday afternoon for an impromptu meeting. The meeting was called by a few individual residents who felt frustrated by the lack of information coming from the council and it was clear from the discussion that many others felt the same way.
“We have told them about these cracks for years and they never cared as long as we were still paying our rent” said one woman.
Residents spoke passionately about their frustration over years and even decades when reporting problems with the building.
“My mother chokes on cigarette smoke every night that comes into her bedroom from the flat next door” said one man, “imagine if that was toxic smoke from a fire”.
“It’s not just the cracks”, said a mother of a disabled child who lives on a high floor “it’s the constant leaks that are getting into the electrical wires that are going to cause the fire!”
People demanded answers from local councillors about why this woman and other vulnerable people were not being evacuated from the building immediately, and why they were not being fully informed about the risk assessment that led to fire marshals being stationed on every second floor in the four blocks.
Numerous tenants spoke of their shock when they woke up on Saturday morning to find these security guards sitting outside their flats.
Another woman expressed the mistrust of many when she asked councillors “You say there’s no money for anything but now there’s money to pay people to sit outside our doors 24 hours a day? and you still say we shouldn’t be worried? What are you not telling us?”
Councillors said they had not seen the fire risk assessment. Angry residents questioned the council officials who are currently based in the estate’s tenants hall but they were also unable or unwilling to reveal what assessment of the risk had been made by the fire authorities.
Commitments were made by councillors and officers that they would attempt to get this information to residents as soon as possible but the meeting also resolved to send a deputation to the next full council meeting on the 12th of July and press home the urgency of dealing with this crisis.
A local member of the Radical Housing Network who was invited to attend said “I was at a meeting on Monday when the Council told us that we should be completely reassured that all buildings in Southwark are safe and that the ‘stay put’ policy was still the right policy. Clearly that was not true. If risk assessments did not pick up on this danger before now, when people have been reporting these cracks for years, then residents across the borough are entitled to know what’s going on.”
The meeting on Monday 26th June, attended by residents from the local area, was an open meeting by the fire brigade and Southwark Council at the Old Kent Road fire station. Southwark Council maintained at that meeting that all fire risk assessments of council blocks were up to date.
Another local housing campaigner who was asked to help facilitate the Ledbury meeting said “We don’t yet know the level of risk to residents in Ledbury but there are serious questions to be answered, affecting residents beyond this estate. Why were people who reported these cracks told less than a month ago that there was no danger? We understand that it was only at the insistence of one worried tenant, who sent pictures of the cracks directly to the London fire authority, that an independent assessment was carried out this week and the full extent of the danger has come to light.
Residents are right to demand direct accountability and they need to know whether the rumour is true that the London Fire Brigade have already suggested a full evacuation of these buildings. The lessons of Grenfell need to be learned and that means openness and accountability from the council to all its residents, including honesty about what failings in their fire risk assessments have led to this situation.”
Council officers said that the full structural survey of the building would start on Monday and that residents would be informed as soon as they knew the extent of repairs needed. However, one resident pleaded with the council not to wait until the last minute to make arrangements for evacuation – she called on them to put the contingency plans in place now so that if evacuation was required the council would be able to rehouse everyone in the local area.
The Radical Housing Network offers its full support and solidarity to the residents of Ledbury and are urging the council to guarantee now that residents will have a final say on any long term decisions about the blocks so that the future of this community and this social housing is protected.