It's appalling that Holgate's head should roll in this way.
STATEMENT
 |
| SCAPEGOAT |
Dear Dame
Yesterday, 20th June, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government required the Leader of RBKC to seek Nicholas Holgate's resignation.
Yours sincerely
Anon KC employee
It should be the other way round. Holgate has had to implement the appalling policies of treating poor people with contempt that have been set by the Conservative councillors and in particular by Cllr Feilding-Mellen
ReplyDeleteThe fiction is that officers are the servants of the elected member, i.e. the councillors. However, it's clear that in this case Holgate has a great deal to answer for. Apart from Paget Brown and Feiling-Mellen, perhaps the person requiring the greatest scrutiny is the diminutive Cllr Warwick Lightfoot. He holds the RBKC purse strings and has never made the slightest attempt to hide the fact that he despises residents. This is particularly true of any resident foolish enough to express a view with which he disagrees. He screams at them. It matters not where or when. Lightfoot will scream them into silence.
ReplyDeleteCllr Lightfoot has demonstrated his contempt for his constituency by taking more interest in the "vandalism" of the leaders' office and mayoral suite than he has done in Grenfell.
DeleteIf this story is true, it is most unfortunate. And it will not prevent the next "Grenfell".
ReplyDeleteThe Leader and the Cabinet set the tone, the strategy and the culture. In my judgement, Officers (and the Chief Executive) do very well what they are required to do.
This is a scapegoat strategy that will brush under the carpet the underlying problems. Getting rid of Mr Holgate will not help the problems to go away.
The problem is the Leadership and the complacency of monopoly.
https://www.rbkc.gov.uk/newsroom/all-council-statements/announcements
DeleteGotta disagree with you, RCE, it's wonderful news. Big fat step in the right direction. Goodbye to him, and jolly good riddance to bad rubbish. But don't worry, I have no doubts that P-B and F-M are next (though possibly not in that order), and won't that be something to celebrate?
DeleteAnd by the way, have you actually seen Grenfell lately? There's no carpet on the planet that that's going to fit under, even if you did possess a very large broom.
Having been on the receiving end of Holgate's abusive attitude to residents, I write in support of Local's comments. An FOI enquiry has dragged on for over a decade. Well over £1million of residents' funds have been spent on a cover up. Most recently, residents objected to the Council's accounts for a third time on the same issue. Rather than address the issue, Holgate ensured the district auditor threatened the complainants with criminal prosecution. Now Holgate's gone, NPB can no longer hide behind him.
DeleteIf majority of RBKC residents withhold paying the Council tax based on the objection of the Council's account, they will have to do something. Nothing like people power. If one of you did that, they will serve you with notice, court order etc but if 20K people did that? Will they have to go through 20K court applications? How long would that take?
DeleteJeremy Corbyn MP should require Emma Dent Coad to resign as Member of Parliament for Kensington. I know he is short of MP's but that is no excuse for allowing Emma to serve as an MP when she gave succour for many years, as a Non Executive Director of the TMO, to the mismanaged, incompetent, and corrupt Tory myth of tenant management in Kensington and Chelsea. She knew that the TMO was mismanaged, incompetent, moribund and corrupt and she did not speak out choosing instead to toe the collective responsibility line. I saw Emma following her Leader, Jeremy Corbyn, around Latimer Road last week nodding sycophantically in agreement with his every utterance. It is a pity that she did not take the same stance with those who filled her ears about the TMO for many years.
ReplyDeleteSausage, read this, from a previous comment on a previous thread
Delete"The TMO do not provide any contact details for any members of the Board, whether resident, Council appointed or independent. Residents and RAs are expected to NOT contact Board members directly and Board members are advised not to talk to residents or RAs. Yes, really.
If you're a resident or an RA you are supposed to talk to customer services or a member of staff. They are the only official contact point for everything.
What members of the TMO Board get to see is therefore very much controlled by the staff. The papers tabled at Board meetings are written by either members of staff or the Council. All policies and strategies are dreamt up by either members of staff or the Council. Board members never write anything, rarely propose anything and certainly never table any papers at Board meetings they have written themselves. As has already been noted repeatedly elsewhere the Board is a sham.
If a resident or RA wishes to complain about a fire safety issue like fire alarms they will, in the first instance, complain to a member of staff, possibly a senior member of staff, possibly a technical member of staff, but a member of staff nonetheless. There is no guarantee that the member of staff will then pass that complaint "up the chain" and certainly no guarantee that it will be brought up at a Board meeting (guess what's likely).
Councillors serving on the Board are of course a different matter. Their contact details are available from the Council website so a resident or an RA could always contact them directly about any concerns they might have. They might then raise the issue with the most senior staff directly or at a Board meeting. But this has always been frowned upon and Councillors are clearly discouraged from doing so (as has already been noted elsewhere). Sadly even if a Councillor brings an issue up at Board there is only a very slim chance that the rest of the Board will treat the complaint seriously. The resident Board members wouldn't generally know any better. And even if they do they will probably be placated/fobbed off in some way by the staff.
Fire alarms are actually not an issue I would have expected residents or RAs to complain about. Some tenanted properties have had mains powered smoke and heat alarms fitted but most have not. None of the estates have communal/central fire alarms. It is unlikely they would complain about something they don't have and are unlikely to ever have. What they are probably complaining about however are broken fire doors, damaged emergency lights, vandalised dry risers and poor fire escape signage. All of which can be found in abundance. But if you can provide a citation I would certainly be interested in taking a look."
Calling for Dent Coad's resignation? Are you smoking crack? Christ there are some nutters on here.
Delete0023 & 05.28 are deliberately confusing the issue. I am not a nutter at all. I am not on anything.
DeleteEmma Dent Coad gave succour to a failing housing management provider by serving on its Board for years as a Director. No if and buts about it that is what she did. Regardless of the power enjoyed by individual Board members, she did not do the right thing. She did not stand up and show up the Tory tenant management sham in public. She acquiesced in the Tory myth of the TMO providing tenant oriented services approved and implemented under the watchful eye of tenants. We may have got rid of the incompetent TMO and its managers if Emma Dent Coad had been less spineless and, we may not have had the disaster at Grenfell. The issue is Dent Coad could have tried a stop to Tenant Management by speaking out and she did not. Not her finest moment. I'll tell Corbyn I am sure he will get it.
The resignation of the single minority party member of the TMO Board would not have made any difference to anything. The Council would simply appoint someone else to the post. Just as they have made appointments to the post allocated to the majority party not occupied by a Tory Councillor.
DeleteThe TMO will continue to exist for as long as the Council wants it to. And they clearly have wanted it to carry on despite the mountain of evidence to suggest that it was very, very rotten.
10.17. Dent Coad cannot be exonerated from blame just because the Council would have simply replaced her with someone else. The difference that would have occurred (if she did the right thing by resigning, with attendant media publicity) is that the the sham of tenant management would have been exposed, warts and all, including incompetence, mismanagement, corruption and a pathetic staff lacking in vitality.
DeleteDent Coad did not behave in a moral or honourable way. This highly intelligent woman with her high Spanish pedigree could have tried to achieve something instead she gave approval to something that ultimately led to disaster. I wouldn't be able to sleep at night with that on my conscience.
Why don't you do something productive and demand Black's resignation?
DeleteI have demanded Black's resignation along with half a dozen others at the TMO.
DeleteI10.17 so Emma gave way to expediency then
Delete11:06. Names please. I see Black, Brown and Jevans mentioned elsewhere. Who else needs to go?
DeleteRock needs to go NOW
DeleteEmma needs to go too.
DeleteIs that you Victoria?
DeleteAsking for Dent Coad's resignation for being on the board seems tenous and desperate. The Mail and Katie Hopkins tried this angle and found nothing. We all know what the Mail are like, if there was something they would have pursued it further.
This wasnt even signed off, cladding built above 10 metres, caused cycanide poisning, no sprinklers, no fire safety check for 18 months! This is all down to Dent Coad is it? Jog on!
If a Conservative was to stand again they would lose more votes than Borwick had. There should be a local by election though.
Dent Coad seems to be the only one holding things together, K&C could not even do the simplest thing under PB. With no KC staff on the ground coordinating Ealing has had to step in.
Is the Dame taking Names: 1) Borewood 2) Whoever is the head of the enviromental health department (tried to find their name but no luck)
@14:14 there was a lack of Royal Borough staff on the ground. However there was significant Triborough deployment of adult social care staff in the rest centres. It seems that WCC and the loathsome LBHF staff stepped up, however were let down by the arrogant coordination of RBKC who wanted to micro manage everything without actually making any decisions or communicating either externally or internally.
DeleteI heard from the residents that RBKC staff went home earliest while other teams such as red cross stayed on till 9pm. Says it all really. We cannot expect any care coming from these people. They never have and they never will.
DeleteStatement by Nicholas Holgate, Town Clerk of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
ReplyDeleteOn Tuesday 20 June, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government required the Leader of the Council to seek my resignation.
Serving the families so desperately affected by the heart-breaking tragedy at Grenfell Tower remains the highest priority of the Council. Despite my wish to have continued, in very challenging circumstances, to lead on the executive responsibilities of the Council, I have decided that it is better to step down from my role, once an appropriate successor has been appointed.
Success in our efforts requires leadership across London that sustains the confidence and support of central Government. There is a huge amount still to do for the victims of the fire, requiring the full attention of this Council and many others. If I stayed in post, my presence would be a distraction.
Whilst the public inquiry and other investigations will get to the truth of the causes of this tragedy and the management of its aftermath, I strongly believe that Councillors and officers have always endeavoured to have the interests of our residents at heart and will continue to do so.
Statement by the Leader of the Council
It is with great regret that I have today accepted Nicholas Holgate’s resignation. Like everyone else, the Council has been grief stricken by the tragedy of the Grenfell Tower fire and has sought to provide the greatest level of support we can to victims. That is a huge challenge and Nicholas has led from the front in seeking to do this. However, the Council will now need to work in a new way with different partners to take this forward.
Nicholas has made a huge contribution to Kensington and Chelsea during his eight years with us and is greatly admired by staff and members. I am enormously grateful to him.
Nicholas Paget-Brown
Leader of the Council
- See more at: https://www.rbkc.gov.uk/newsroom/all-council-statements/announcements#sthash.0wTgMq1L.dpuf
Has resigned.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-40362317
About time. He's a disgrace. Now for Paget Brown, Fielding-Mellen, Black and Lightfoot the cabinet member for finance.
ReplyDeleteI agree 06.08. The TMO needs to implode. Would any of the Gracious Lady's pen pals like to list below all of those at the TMO who must go. Savid Javid might read this and do something. Robert Black must have the hide of a rhinoceros to still be in post.
ReplyDeleteLets start the list going ...
DeleteRobert Black
Teresa Brown
Sacha Jevans
All part of the TMO Exec team and all pretty nasty pieces of work who treat the residents appallingly.
Please add to it as you see fit.
I have read Robert Black has now resigned.
DeleteSacha Jevans and the rest of the exec team really have to resign now.
10.04
DeleteAdd Birch and Maddison too to your list for the same reasons that Black, Brown and Jevans are on your list.
13.24 Where did you read that Black has resigned ?What took him so long?
DeleteDominic Davies
DeleteCatherine Dack
The holocaust happened because of the tone that was set in Germany by the Leader. It was not caused by concentration Camp Commanders, who did what was required of them. Hitler and his chosen cabal (his Cabinet) set the tone, articulated the strategy, and monitored progress. This is what Leadership is about.
ReplyDeleteFiring Holgate is a sop for the Minister of Community who has failed to go after a corrupt and contemptible Tory Administration in the Royal Borough. And of course the Cabinet (appointed by Paget-Brown) gave him a vote of confidence because they want to keep their (patronage) jobs.
Sickening.
If there was a Labour administration in Kensington, the Tory Government would have got shot of them. They are looking after their own
DeleteRubbish....look how long Tower Hamlets lingered on for.
DeleteTower Hamlets never had a "Grenfell". We must not fail to capitalise on the focus on Kensington caused by the Grenfell disaster. If there is enough public and media pressure to get rid of the catastrophic Leadership in Hornton Street this will be a useful thing to do. At the moment the Leader and Cabinet are playing for time until the heat dies down. Then it will be business as usual again.
DeleteEven the Dame seems to have fallen into the trap of giving these rodents an easy time. "Not the time to rock the boat" she elegantly announced. Silly old woman.
When Paget-Brown called a Cabinet meeting on Monday and offered to resign he was asking the turkeys to vote for Christmas. Of course they all gobbled "Not on your life".
ReplyDeleteNote to Editors: All Cabinet Members are appointed by the patronage of Paget-Brown. Their jobs are his gift. If they voted him out, at least half of them would never get another position in the Cabinet. Who else would appoint Mellen, or Warwick, or (E) Campbell, or Coleridge.......
The leader should fall on his sword . Followed by the deputy who has antagonized 'poor' residents for years ' the landlord does not listen to the estate '. Followed by the scrooge like hoarding of money by the head of finance. Paget Brown, Mellon , Lightfoot .Go .
ReplyDeleteThose of us who have suffered at the hands of the TMO are concerned that the likes of Holgate will be sacrificed but the senior TMO staff who have made our lives a misery will be able to carry on.
ReplyDeleteThe TMO Executive team need to resign.
Any member of staff involved in specifying, managing or supervising the work to Grenfell tower needs to do the same.
The Council needs to wind up its management agreement with the TMO ASAP.
The TMO must be no more. END OUR NIGHTMARE. KILL IT NOW!
This will undoubtedly happen.
DeleteThe whole sorry debacle is quickly acquiring very fetid odour, indeed.. YouTube clips relating to the fire itself, the witnesses, the new insurance cover and the 2014 demolition application....They are all guilty to some degree. So the best is to get rid of most of them and start afresh, should this be possible.... Rot is very insidious and difficult to eradicate...good luck to all of those who will attempt to do so - but think that they are just urinating in the wind.....but, then, time may prove me wrong.... let's hope so... amen
ReplyDeleteSurvival is the natural instinct of politicians. Paget-Brown and his Cabinet are building the story. "I offered to resign but the Cabinet gave me a unanimous vote of confidence. I have fired the Chief Executive".
ReplyDeleteWhen a tower block goes up like a candle, because of wilful negligence, and in spite of years of complaints and warnings from residents, there can be no question that the whole Cabinet should resign. A new Leader needs to be elected and he/she will form their new Cabinet.
The current conduct is despicable. The worst kind of self serving greed. Kensington politicians should stop trifling with residents, demeaning democracy, and sinking the whole Hornton Street reputation to new depths.
Every Cabinet member of Kensington and Chelsea should be deeply ashamed and crawl away quietly. Instead they are brazenly pretending that the tragedy has nothing to do with them. In the words of Cllr Ahern, Cabinet Member for Planning, "people do not understand that Grenfaell has nothing to do with the Council. It is the responsibility of the TMO"
DeleteThe same logic implies that the Chief Executive (fired today by the pathetic politicians) also had nothing to do with Grenfell. Its all the fault of the TMO.....
"In spite of years of complaints by residents"
DeleteWell said Angry Resident.
This whole Council, and especially the Councillors, is not connected up with the electorate. It is a bloated, self serving and self indulgent club. This needs to be blown apart. Grenfell has given voters the opportunity to do this.
People of RBKC: put pressure on Labour and Lib Dems to form pacts for the 2018 local council elections next May. Where one is stronger in a certain ward, the other stands down. If they won't, tell them both to go to hell and stand yourself as an independent on an anti-corruption platform. Kensington & Chelsea will always be a rotten borough with this Tory group in charge. It's time for change. It's time for them to go. Drive them out. We will take of the mess they leave behind.
ReplyDeleteGood idea!
DeleteThis was tried in Stanley Ward last time round, so the London Labour Party moved in and put up stooge candidates over the backs of the local Labour Party members.
DeleteThese guys are puffers. Self serving, pathetic, puffers
ReplyDeleteListening to BBC News, it seems the Government now claims it did not ask for Holgate's resignation. Hm.
ReplyDeleteApparently, authorities are doing air toxicity test around the Lancaster West area. Do you know when the report becomes available to us? OR are they going to hide it from us like when we asked for Earl's Court?
ReplyDeletePublic Health and TMO have confirmed that the air toxicity levels are back to normal.
DeleteThere should be a full investigation into Councillor Maighread Simmons' dealings at the TMO as a board member. She was aware and propagated the culture of corruption.
ReplyDeleteWill there be tears before bedtime today at the TMO? Hope so.
ReplyDeleteEmma Dent Coad thinks she walks on water since she won the election. Why hasn't she been on the BBC demanding the heads of TMO top brass. Oh I forgot, she is so much better and superior to an ordinary worker like me from a Council flat on Lancaster West
She has only been MP for 14 days. It is a bit ambitious to expect her to get Black, Brown Jevans, Maddison and Birch out of the TMO in 14 days.
ReplyDelete22.17 Coad and Blakeman have much to answer for as Board Members of the TMO.
DeleteSimmonds allowed all sorts of things to do with gardening to go on. She also had something to do with the departure of a middle manager at Worlds End. With any luck, there will not be a TMO for long. Disappointing to hear the Prime Minister say that the New Town Clerk will be looking at the TMO to see what is wrong with it. For god sake, it must implode
The head of gardening, cleaning, Housing Regeneration Project funds, Area Review Funding, is a gardener who has risen through the TMO ranks thanks to his close friend Councillor Simmonds.
DeleteNick Ross should read these comments.
ReplyDeleteI think we need to realise that it's not about "Conservative or Labour is better" argument because at the end of the day, the colours are there to give you a false sense of identity i.e. different political group but both parties are in fact controlled by the same people. If you cannot see this... well this is exactly the puppet master want you to see so that you'll keep on arguing for nothing.
ReplyDeleteIt is official. Preliminary investigations confirm that the Fire at Grenfell Tower was caused by a faulty fridge freeze in one flat and that the fire spread to kill 78 people courtesy of the cladding specified by the Kensington and Chelsea TMO.
ReplyDeleteMyers had Martyn Kingsford's resignation for much less.
Why is Robert Black still in post? The buck stops with him.
Why is Peter Maddison still in post when he did not report dangerous cladding or insist on its removal from the Tower - leading to the deaths of 78 people?
Why is the Council allowing the incomptent TMO, (and let's face it it is incompetent) to manage 9, 000 homes?
How can the Council be confident that there will not be more fatalities in other TMO managed properties.?
The TMO ignored our concerns of serious safety risks to hundreds of homes in Chelsea for six years. They knowingly allowed the elderly, the disabled and families with young children to be placed at risk of death.
DeletePeter Maddison is a very interesting character. I have it on good authority that a previous member of staff resigned as he was instructed to hide money from RBKC auditors.
DeleteNothing would surprise me about the TMO.
Delete@18:25, Your information will help poor Grenfell victims. I hope someone kept the correspondences so that we can usher TMO to hang itself. At some point we need to collate these information, one from 93 Elm Park as well.
DeleteTMO will everything to disperse residence from coming together. They are back bullying the Grenfell survivors by keep on moving them from hotel to hotel to disperse them. Form a small group in your estate and at some point we will meet again and bring facts together to help the Grenfell residents. Helping them will save YOU in the future. Think of them like one of your family member...in a way they are. We are in this all together. If we don't stop this madness, you will the victim next!
We have all the documentation.
DeleteThis is a common story from TMO residents.
CRIMINAL NEGLIGENCE !!!!!
ReplyDeleteThey ignored the concerns of the fire brigade.
ReplyDeleteThe fire brigade were force to serve a legal notice.
ReplyDeleteA police investigation should focus on the TMO.
ReplyDeleteTMO does it again! They are desparate to separate this community.
ReplyDelete@PilgrimTucker
I have just witnessed grenfell residents being kicked out of hotel and separately dispersed to different hotels
No dignity or care for traumatised residents. Disgraceful.
Delete"Grenfell fire survivors moved out of hotel with just hours notice.
Community groups helping the victims said some of them have been moved between three or four hotels since the fire."
http://news.sky.com/story/grenfell-fire-survivors-moved-out-of-hotel-with-just-hours-notice-10925401
Current and previous members of the TMO Board are now scared to death of being fingered in corporate manslaughter charges. But Dent Coad and Blakeman can show that they did fight for tenants at the board and were just ignored. And the tenant and leaseholder board members are "trained" by the TMO when they are elected and are told that they can't raise tenants' issues; they are just there to rubber stamp the executive team's recommendations. The name Tenant Management Organisation means managing the tenants, not that the tenants manage their homes.
ReplyDeleteI hope that Blakeman and Dent Code have checked their insurance policies. They didn't try very hard.
ReplyDeleteHolgate isn't a scapegoat. He brought the council into disrepute on a scale I doubt we have ever seen before. Were you not horrified and ashamed by the storming of Hornton Street and the repeated despairing words on the street deploring council staff's absence on our TV screens and in every newspaper day after day? He had hundreds of employees and millions of pounds of resources to help after the tragedy but he neglected his duty to act.
ReplyDeleteBringing the council into disrepute is a disciplinary matter, as he full well knows. He had no qualms allowing the same charge against others under the Tri-Borough cull of staff - false allegations, nothing on this clear-cut, scale of magnitude.
He should not have been allowed to resign, nor pocket the six figure sum reported in the press. He should have been suspended, investigated and sacked without a penny and stripped of any information to build a defence when the culpability for the fire itself is examined.