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The Grenfell Inquiry chair has announced he will appoint an expert in dealing with social housing resident complaints.
Sir Martin Moore-Bick said many of those who lived in Grenfell Tower and the surrounding area are “strongly of the view” that before the fire Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation received “many complaints” about the condition of the block and warnings about fire safety “to which little heed was paid”.
He added that an investigation into those complaints and how they were handled will form an “important part” of the inquiry’s work.
Sir Martin said in response to these concerns he will appoint someone who has the “necessary standing and expertise in such matters” to provide an expert report to the inquiry and give evidence to the inquiry.
Sir Martin also revealed that he is not expecting to hear from witnesses until after Easter next year.
He rejected a request from the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) for two fire safety experts – Steve McGuirk and Joyce Redfearn – to stand down from the inquiry. The FBU said the experts are “conflicted” because of their perceived role in overseeing cuts to the fire service.
Sir Martin said Mr McGuirk would be focusing on practical questions on fire-fighting and not issues relating to the funding of the fire service.
He added: “It has been made clear to him that his role as an expert witness is to give his candid opinion on the questions on which he has been asked to assist the inquiry and to do so without seeking to influence one way or the other the decisions that it may ultimately reach.”
Sir Martin said the FBU will be able to apply to the inquiry to deliver its own expert evidence if it wishes to challenge evidence given by Mr McGuirk.
He said the claim that Mr McGuirk and Ms Redfearn are “too closely linked professionally” for them both to help the inquiry “is in my view without substance”.
He added: “Their roles in the inquiry are quite different and the areas in which their knowledge and expertise have been sought are also quite different.
“It would be unusual for senior professionals working in the public service in the same region not to have had some contact with each other and I have seen nothing to suggest that the limited contact between Mr McGuirk and Ms Redfearn arising from his leadership of the Manchester Fire and Rescue Service and her role as chief executive of Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council is such as to lead a well-informed and objective observer to think that they might somehow influence the inquiry in a way that could legitimately give rise to concern.”