Plans are pressing ahead for some of the families made homeless by the tower block fire last week to be housed in one of London’s most desirable addresses.
The Standard revealed that new flats in a Kensington High Street development — where penthouses go for up to £13mn — are to be used to provide accommodation.
Sixty-eight flats in the Kensington Row scheme are expected to be acquired to permanently house families from Grenfell Tower, which is a couple of miles away.
Communities Secretary Sajid Javid said: “Our priority is to get everyone who has lost their home permanently rehoused locally as soon as possible, so that they can begin to rebuild their lives.”
Meanwhile, Theresa May announced that a new Civil Disaster Reaction Taskforce may be set up following the tragedy in which at least 79 people are feared to have died. It would aim to provide a much better response to victims of such disasters. The prime minister also laid out plans for a new independent public advocate to speak up for families in such crises.
John Barradell, head of the newly established Grenfell Fire Response Team (GFRT), admitted that even a week after the blaze, the effort still needed to be stepped up to help victims.
“We are doing all we can to co-ordinate and bring in additional support to help local people who have suffered so much, but know we have so much more to do and won’t let up on our efforts.”
The new housing move comes after Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn called for luxury empty properties in Kensington to be taken over by the government to house victims, a demand rejected by ministers.
Kensington and Chelsea council has been heavily criticised for its response to the tragedy, with claims that residents have even been sleeping rough in parks and cars because of “appalling” co-ordination from the borough in trying to rehouse them.
However, a spokesman for the GFRT said: “We are not aware of anybody doing so and if that is the case we would urge people to come to the Westway Sports Centre so we can help with their housing needs.”
A number of the Grenfell families are to move to the collection of 535 apartments and penthouses known as 375 Kensington High Street, part of a £2bn regeneration project called the Warwick Road Masterplan.
The complex, a former HMRC office block, is owned by developer St Edward, part of the Berkeley Group.
