Families of Grenfell Tower victims slam 'disgraceful' decision to delay public inquiry's report until October despite plans for it to be ready this spring
- A letter stated that Phase 1 of the report had been complex and time consuming
- The fire broke out in the West London building on June 14, 2017, killing 72 people
- Some 70 others were injured from the blaze and 223 people managed to escape
The families of grenfell tower victims today slammed the 'disgraceful' decision to delay the publication of the fire inquiry's first report until October.
Core participants, including survivors and those who lost relatives in the deadly blaze in West London in June 2017, were expecting it would be released this spring.
But in a letter they were told today that writing the report 'has proved to be a far more complex and time-consuming task than the inquiry had originally anticipated'.
The fire at Grenfell Tower in North Kensington, West London, resulted in the death of 72 people
More than than 70 others were injured and 223 people escaped in the blaze in June 2017
It said: 'The chairman will be in a position to write to the Prime Minister with his final report after the parliamentary recess, for publication most likely in October.'
The report follows the first phase of the inquiry, which is limited to what happened on the night of June 14, 2017 when a fire ripped through the tower block.
The huge blaze at the building in North Kensington resulted in the death of 72 people. More than than 70 others were injured and 223 people escaped.
Caroline Featherstone, solicitor to the inquiry, said in the letter that plans for the second phase are continuing and it is still due to go ahead in January 2020.
Justice 4 Grenfell, a group campaigning for those affected by the fire, said: 'This has only served to decrease bereaved, survivors and residents' (BSRs') confidence in the process further.
'They have already raised the issues of a lack of transparency during the inquiry and a culture of secrecy and exclusion.
'This is another excuse on a long list of shifting the parameters of the inquiry and a lack of willingness to discuss with BSRs how and why decisions are made.'
And Natasha Elcock, chairman of Grenfell United, the group for survivors and bereaved families, added: 'It's disgraceful the inquiry have underestimated the complexity of the evidence that was produced in Phase 1 and have further delayed the report until autumn.
'That we are only finding this out now, when we were expecting the report to be published ahead of the two-year anniversary. Shows how they continue to disregard survivors and bereaved through this process.'
Relatives, survivors and friends of victims of the Grenfell Tower fire hold a vigil in June 2018
How Grenfell Tower appears now after the blaze, with a banner saying 'Forever In Our Hearts'
The letter said the report will set out in detail what happened on the night of the blaze. 'That involves an almost minute-by-minute description of how the fire started, how it spread and what was happening on each floor of the Tower,' it said.
'It also involves a detailed description and analysis of what was happening in the incident control room and on the ground, as well as the response of the emergency services and relevant organisations.'
Elizabeth Campbell, leader of Kensington and Chelsea Council, said: 'This news will be very disappointing to the families and the communities in our borough.
'We all want to get to the truth of what happened nearly two years ago, and we hope the inquiry can still move forward despite the delay to this report.
'I want to reiterate that our approach to the inquiry has been to provide the witnesses they have asked for and the documents they require. We are serious about our role in making sure a tragedy like this never happens again.'
Inquiry chairman Sir Martin Moore-Bick has previously said he does not consider it appropriate to make interim recommendations ahead of the report.
But some survivors have become frustrated that safety recommendations, such as abandoning the 'stay-put' policy for buildings over 10 storeys, are so far yet to be implemented.
Ms Elcock said: 'It is survivors and bereaved that fought to get dangerous cladding banned.
'There is still no change to the stay put policy, people are living in tower blocks without sprinklers and social housing residents across the country are still be ignored and mistreated.
'It appears, despite everything survivors and bereaved said in the weeks after the fire, the inquiry has woefully underestimated the catastrophic complexity and scale of the failures that led to Grenfell.
'They also continue to woefully underestimated the needs of bereaved and survivors.'
She added: 'We want the inquiry and the criminal investigation to be thorough and to get to the truth, but there must be no more delays.
'We are living in a limbo, increasingly frustrated and we need to know there will be some resolution soon. A slow justice is a painful justice for all of us.
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