A personal message from Cllr Elizabeth Campbell

On this page you can find a personal message recorded by Cllr Elizabeth Campbell.

The message is available via this link, which has only been shared with bereaved families and survivors from Grenfell Tower. We share this video recognising the huge importance of today, but we also understand that not everybody will want to hear from the Council or its leader at this moment. If you would rather read a transcript of the message, it follows under the video.

Transcript

Today marks the publication of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry report after seven long years, and before I release a statement to the general public, I just wanted to speak to you directly because today belongs to all of you those of you who lost loved ones in the most horrible circumstances, who escaped the tower that night and whose homes were destroyed.

And I just wanted to say, I'm sorry for your loss, for your anguish and for your despair that you endured that night and in the months and years since. And I will never forget what I heard at the Inquiry and at Testimony Week about the unimaginable sufferings that you have experienced.

The Grenfell Tower fire should never have happened, and this Council failed you. It failed you before the fire, on the night of the fire, and in the aftermath of the fire. We didn't keep you and your loved ones safe and we didn't listen. And when you warned us, your warnings went unheeded, and this much the Inquiry laid bare for all of us to see.

Now I know that the Inquiry isn't the end but I hope that you will find in it some of the answers that you're looking for, and for our part we will learn from all criticisms that are levelled against this Council, and I remain as committed to you as I was when I became leader in 2017.

And over the years the conversations we've had have had an incredibly powerful impact on me and they – well, I – promise you that we will make the changes that you deserve and that Grenfell will remain at the heart of all the changes in this Council.