On Monday 15 November, the Grenfell Tower Memorial Commission met with Michael Gove MP, the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.
Following the meeting, we wrote a letter to the secretary of state to set out the points we raised and discussed in that meeting. Some of the main issues we wanted to reflect on in our letter, were:
- Our experience of The Sunday Times’ coverage in September and its impact on us and other families
- Our need for the government to reaffirm the commitments made to our community by previous ministers in 2018, and published on GOV.UK
- Our concerns about how a decision about Grenfell Tower would be approached
- The importance of justice, and our need for the individuals in question to be held accountable for the tragedy
- The importance of bereaved and survivor families having access to an independent review of safety advice on Grenfell Tower
- The critical need for the journey to a memorial to not be rushed, and to be based on sensitive and respectful work with families.
You can see our letter below, alongside the written response we received, and with translations of both letters.
Following these reaffirmed commitments by the secretary of state, we are pleased to resume our meetings and conversations with the community, and to continue our work towards creating a fitting memorial to our loved ones. This will begin with our online meeting for bereaved family members and former residents on Monday 24 January, 6pm–7pm. Please email us for joining details.
We will then hold our local in-person ‘drop-in’ on Saturday 29 January, 2pm–5pm. This will be in the Atrium, Al-Manaar Muslim Cultural Heritage Centre, 244 Acklam Road, W10 5YG. We hope to see you there.
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