Dear Mr. de Florence

 

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT REQUEST REF:
2017-1113                           

                                                                                                

I am writing to confirm that we received your information request on 26
July 2017. For your information and future communications your request has
been allocated the reference number FOI2017-1113. Please quote this
reference in any future correspondence.

 

We will consider your request and respond in accordance with the
requirements of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Our duty is to
respond promptly or at least within 20 working days.

 

Yours sincerely

                                                                                                                                 

Robin Yu

Information Governance and Management
Officer                                                                          

Shared ICT Service

The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea

The Town Hall, Hornton Street, London W8 7NX

Tel: 020 7938 8226

 

Email: [1][email address] | Website: [2]http://www.rbkc.gov.uk

 

 

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Dear Mr. de Florence

 

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REF: 2017-1113

 

I am responding to your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000,
which we received on 26 July 2017, for information held by the Council.
Your request is as follows:

 

In connection with the Grenfell tower fire displaced persons, and existing
regeneration plans:

 

·         What plans are currently in place to address the above 2 issues?

 

·         What phases of the plans are currently being implemented?

 

·         How long will the current phases take until the next phases are
brought into effect?

 

·         How long until all existing plans are brought to completion?

 

·         Have future regeneration projects been put on hold, or are they
still being examined?

 

·         What is currently being done to appoint a new TMO Chief Exec and
a new Council Chief Exec, and what is the time scale for the recruitment
process?

 

What regeneration plans are in place? Have future regeneration projects
been put on hold, or are they still being examined? What phases are there
and when will they be completed?

 

Regeneration proposals for all sites in the Borough have been put on hold.

 

What plans are currently in place to address the people displaced by the
Grenfell Tower fire, and what phases of these plans are currently being
implemented? How long will the current phases take until the next phases
are brought into effect? How long until all existing plans are brought to
completion?

 

Our priority is to provide support and assistance to everyone displaced by
the fire on 14 June 2017. We recognise that people have suffered
unimaginable trauma as a result of these events, and we are committed to
finding them permanent homes they are happy with at a pace that is right
for them.

 

As a first step, we worked to provide emergency hotel accommodation for
people who were made homeless by the fire. Since then, we have been
managing a rolling program of bookings at hotels in Kensington and Chelsea
and neighbouring boroughs. The aim has always been to make sure that the
hotels are in, or as near to, Kensington and Chelsea as possible.

 

Next, we began to make offers of temporary accommodation, to give people
the option to move out of hotels if they wanted to. We are continuing to
make offers of temporary homes as they are needed. To do this, our Housing
Officers have been working with families to make sure we are aware of
their needs so we know which homes could work for them.

 

To date we have made 179 offers of temporary accommodation. 65 of these
offers have been accepted and 24 households have been rehoused.

 

No one will be forced into accepting an offer they do not want, and people
do not have to move into a temporary home if they would prefer to stay in
a hotel. With some temporary homes, there is also the option to stay there
on a permanent basis, if that is what residents would like. This will be
mentioned to people when the home is offered, and there is no obligation
to accept this option when they take a temporary home.

 

Since the fire, our Housing team have been working to make good-quality,
permanent homes available for residents from Grenfell Tower and Grenfell
Walk. As well as speeding up the completion of homes in Kensington Row,
the council has also purchased new homes in Hortensia Road. Other suitable
permanent homes are in the council’s pipeline and will be made available
as soon as they are ready.

 

For some weeks, we have been working directly with bereaved families to
show them permanent homes that might be suitable for them. Some have
already accepted offers and are preparing to move in.

 

We are continuing to work closely with the bereaved to make sure they all
find homes they are happy with. We are also beginning to show available
permanent homes to non-bereaved families from Grenfell Tower and Grenfell
Walk, so they can tell us which ones they like.

 

We recently wrote to all residents from Grenfell Tower and Grenfell Walk
whose homes were destroyed in the fire to give them the information they
need to access the Home Connections website, where they can see these
homes and express their interest in as many as they like. The process is
explained in the Helping you find a new home guide (attached) which has
been sent to every household, and is available online.

 

Everyone has a dedicated Housing Officer who is working with them to make
sure they get the right support and assistance they need to make a
decision about their new home. Once someone has accepted an offer of a
permanent home we will provide support to help their move go as smoothly
as possible.

 

As with temporary accommodation, no one is under pressure to accept the
offer of a permanent home they do not feel is right for them. No one will
be made homeless or penalised in any way if they reject an offer.
Understanding the reasons why someone does not feel the offer is right for
them will help us find them a suitable permanent home more quickly.

 

The government and Kensington and Chelsea Council have given a promise
that they will find everyone affected from Grenfell Tower and Grenfell
Walk a permanent home they are happy with within 12 months. We are
committed to honouring that promise but are ambitious to do so sooner.

 

However, the exact pace of choosing and moving in to permanent homes must
move at a speed that residents are comfortable with. We will not rush
anyone into making a decision about their permanent home, and we will
continue to make offers until we find the right home for everyone. This is
why Housing Officers are working closely with every household to
understand their individual needs.

 

What is currently being done to appoint a new TMO Chief Exec and a new
Council Chief Exec, and what is the time scale for the recruitment
process?

 

The TMO has appointed Elaine Elkington as its Interim Chief Executive. The
council has appointed an interim Chief Executive, Dr Barry Quirke.  There
is no timescale yet for a permanent appointment to be made  

 

Complaints

 

I trust this has satisfied your request. Should you be unhappy with the
handling of your request, the Council has an internal complaints process
for handling FOIA complaints. Complaints are reviewed by the Chief
Solicitor and Monitoring Officer or her nominee. A form is available from
our website to lodge your complaint
[1]http://www.rbkc.gov.uk/councilanddemocra...
Please contact us if you do not have website access and we can provide you
with a copy of the form. Following this review, should you still be
unhappy with how your information request has been handled, you have a
further right to appeal to the Information Commissioner who is responsible
for ensuring compliance with FOIA.  

 

Yours sincerely

 

Robin Yu

Information Governance and Management Officer

Shared ICT Service

The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea

The Town Hall, Hornton Street, London W8 7NX

Tel: 020 7938 8226

 

Email: [2][email address] | Website: [3]http://www.rbkc.gov.uk

References

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