Roland 'Tiny' Rowland, that friend of African despots, described his Lonrho board as 'baubles on a Christmas Tree.
The description can equally be applied to Robert Black's KCTMO board....impotent, unqualified and a sop towards some sort of corporate governance.
But, comments on the Hornet make it abundantly clear the Council and 'the world and his wife' knew that the board had no powers of oversight or control over the Executive Team.
Nicholas Holgate, the Council's Town Clerk must have been aware this 'baubles on a Christmas tree' board served no useful purpose so why did he allow the charade to continue?
And, turning to the role of planning.....
If you want to change a door in a Conservation Area building it can take months and months with numerous visits from various busybodies.
The Planning Department allowed the equivalent of a petrol soaked overcoat to be draped over Grenfell Tower.
Whoever was responsible for allowing that to happen should be stood down until an investigation is complete.
It is manifestly clear that the Hornton Street organisation needs a root and branch overhaul
ReplyDeleteHas anyone at the TMO been suspended for specifying major works that turned Grenfall Tower in to a fire trap? Robert Black and his team are supposed to be property management professionals. They ought have known that the cladding materials they specified for the major works at Grenfell Tower are prohibited in the United States of America because of the serious risk of fire that their use presents. It is unbelievable for the TMO to go ahead and specify using materials on a tower block that create a death trap just because the law in this country permits their use.
ReplyDeleteWhen Boris Johnson took over from Ken Livingstone as Mayor he commented that the City Hall shredding machines had been working overtime. I bet the TMO top brass have already shredded anything that would help establish culpability.
DeleteHolgate did appear in the Daily Mail this week but only with a photograph and called the "Chief Executive". Shame really, maybe this is a thump up the rear these lily livers need!
ReplyDeleteThe residents complained incessantly but the tmo response was to block their emails.
ReplyDeleteHere is a link to the Grenfell Action Group blog, with all details of how they tried to warn KCTMO of an impending disaster: https://grenfellactiongroup.wordpress.com/
DeleteRobert Black should face criminal charges.
ReplyDeletehear, hear
DeleteDISBAND THE TENANT MANAGEMENT ORGANISATION !!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteRobert Black, Chief executive of the TMO has been criminally negligent. Innocent people have died as a result of the TMO's negligence.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately (as I know from the last Westminster planning committee I sat on on 6 June), the rule in planning is that anything dealt with by another regulatory system is not a planning matter. Fire safety is dealt with by building control, so all that the planning department could do was comment on the colour of the cladding panels.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the building control department goes, they certainly have questions to answer.
Message from Emma Dent Coad MP on Grenfell Tower
ReplyDelete(posted on the Nextdoor blog)
"Our community has been shaken to its roots by this disaster. Over the last three days, I’ve met with hundreds of you. Families who have lost their loved ones, or are desperately seeking news of those still missing. Friends and neighbours traumatised by what they have seen and heard. I’ve spoken to firefighters, ambulance workers, police officers, and the hundreds of volunteers who are caring for people who have lost everything. The community response has been outstanding and shows what people can achieve when they work together.
Sadness, anger and frustration can be felt on the streets of Kensington tonight, and people are understandably demanding justice. They want answers to how such a devastating event could ever have happened.
As your MP, I will not rest until those questions are answered, and justice has been done.
You are right to be angry, but please be calm. Violence on the streets will deflect the difficult work the fire services and police are engaged in to bring justice to you, in what we now know to be a criminal investigation.
All our communities must work together to bring justice to the victims of Grenfell Tower, and remain strong in our determination to bring justice to those who are accountable.
To those who are on the streets of Kensington this evening, my message is this: our community, and the world, are with you. We share your grief, your loss and your determination to find answers.
We must never let those things allow us to turn us on one another. Let’s work together and turn that anger into a determination for real change."
So we shall leave it to you Emma just like we did when you were on the TMO Board and nothing changed.
DeleteExaxtly the right tone of statement by EDC at this sad time
DeleteShe's very good at the tone of things but no so good at getting things done.
DeleteI agree that Emma is right to ask for calm. She gave support to the TMO by serving on it for years when she knew that the place was failing tenants at every turn. She must explain why she did that. Her labour colleagues replaced her as opposition leader. I have seen a letter that she has sent to the Home Secretary five days after the fire which is pretty good.
DeleteSome serious questions need asking of the leader and leadership for the Royal Borough's response to this disaster.
ReplyDeleteThey are letting down residents and putting their staff in an increasingly impossible position through a high minded and painfully cackhand approach to dealing with this response.
Perhaps if the decision makers left the command centre to corroborate the advice and requests that staff volunteering on the ground are making the council might actually get some shit done and improve the response as opposed to drift listlessly on with it's head seemingly buried up it's own privileged fucking ancestral arse.
As a member's of staff who are giving up significant time to try and support residents we're beginning to feel as restless as the mutinous protesters.
We deserve to be suspended from running our own coordinated operation.
Watch the Andrew Marr show: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b08w5q4x/the-andrew-marr-show-18062017
ReplyDelete"the experts need to be held to account", "the Council have failed their local people", "Nick Paget-Brown should be considering his position", "there is talk of the Council being suspended by the government".
Also Sunday Times article on this subject. Toxic endemic corruption.
Piggie, Holgate, Black, Johnson.. et al should be held to account. But, better still, they should just be disposed of as a poisonous vermin - effective, swift, much cheaper and final.
ReplyDeleteAs for EDC - let's see what she does next.....
Just to be clear the level of incompetence at KCTMO. CEO Mr Robert Black has just an ART DEGREE!!
ReplyDeletehttps://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-black-489a7728/
KCTMO does indeed need a root and branch overhaul. In 2012, I had to take a lawyer for structural repairs to be done (leaking roof), as the repair had "disappeared", and nobody could tell why. Contractors used by KCTMO perform sub standard work, which then need rectification, and you then have to chase the request for the repair of the repair. In 2016, I refused to have my kitchen overhauled, as I knew it would be a nightmare. There is currently no way for KCTMO tenants & leaseholders to communicate with one another, unless you know them personally. There is currently no way to express your level of satisfaction at a repair, making a mockery of KCTMO's claims of customer satisfaction surveys. As noted by other, the board of governors is toothless, and that too needs to be addressed. The next AGM is on 16 September 2017, fasten your seat belt, it's gona be a bumpy ride.
ReplyDeleteThe members of the board should not be blamed as they are fed whatever the officers wish them to see. They are not in any position of power.
ReplyDeleteTMO money has been hidden from RBKC auditors.
ReplyDeleteAnother TMO estate was left for six years with serious fire safety risks. The TMO knowingly ignored the concerns of residents and threatened to block emails.
ReplyDelete