The Tory leadership of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea chose to break a nine-year commitment to independent oversight and appoint one of their own councillors as Chair of the Housing and Communities Select Committee in last night’s full council meeting.
In response to the decision, Cllr Monica Press, leader of the Kensington and Chelsea Labour Group of Councillors said:
“The Kensington and Chelsea Labour Group are appalled that RBKC leadership have ended the Labour Group’s longstanding Chairing of the Housing and Communities Select Committee, a crucial part of the independent scrutiny of RBKC’s housing department. The leadership will instead appoint one of their own councillors from the south of the Borough to mark their own homework.
This attempt to avoid scrutiny is an insult to residents and council tenants. RBKC’s record on housing is abysmal. They have the third highest number of housing complaints in the country. The social housing regulator found “serious failings” in their housing department and gave them the second lowest score. 33% of their homes do not meet the Decent Homes Standard.
RKBC leadership have previously accepted that they ‘failed to listen to and involve residents in decisions affecting their lives [and] lacked proper systems of oversight and accountability’. In their own words, responding to the Grenfell Inquiry Report, they said that ‘we cannot be the sole judge of our own progress. Given the impact of our failures and the commensurate breakdown in trust, external scrutiny and challenge must be built into our approach.’
Yet now the Conservative leadership is seeking to duck responsibility and avoid hard questions.
Labour councillors in North Kensington know that unsafe housing ruins lives. We will continue to hold this council to account, and support our residents in their demands for a safe home, timely repairs and to be treated with dignity.”
RBKC’s Housing and Communities Select Committee, which is responsible for overseeing the borough’s housing stock and holding the council to account on behalf of all social tenants, has been chaired by an opposition member since the Grenfell fire tragedy, in which years of Tory neglect and failure resulted in the preventable deaths of 72 North Kensington residents.
RBKC is the most unequal local authority in England, despite being the highest-income borough in the country, with North Kensington home to several of the capital’s most deprived wards.
Notes to editors
For enquiries contact:
Cllr Alex Porter, Communications Officer, RBKC Labour Group:
07969326069