At the meeting held by the Barking Reach Residents Association on the 13 June, attended by 200 residents, and those listed in the previous post from government, council, landlords and their managing agents, residents set down in writing their views on the causes of the fire. As stated, two were drawn up by a packed meeting of Samuel Gardside residents held on the Tuesday after the fire.
The resolutions were discussed line by line in a long process of assessment of the problems facing residents. One was unanimously amended when it was pointed out that the government was also to blame and had not been indicted by the resolution. The resolutions were then passed unanimously.
One key statement in the resolutions is this, from resolution one:
“We believe:
“That Bellway and the others involved in the construction, design and management of the estate were negligent because they failed to address their minds to the obvious risk from the wooden constructed balconies and cladding despite previous concerns raised by residents.”
The resolutions speak for themselves, and repay reading. The more wide ranging conclusions will be touched on in my conclusion.
Bellway Homes presented, or attempted to present, their case for removing the balconies and Barking Riverside Limited presented an overview of undertakings by Bellway to rectify the situation in consultation with and without cost to residents, which undertaking was distributed in letter form earlier that day. In my view it was the fact that Ian Gorst refused to depart from his script so as to give the apologies and assurances that the residents demanded that made it impossible to fully present the plans Bellway had made.
Here are the three resolutions: