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Weekly demands answers for thousands evacuated over council fire fears

A weekly newspaper is seeking answers on behalf of thousands of people evacuated from their homes over fire safety fears.

The Camden New Journal led its current edition with its Chalcots Inquiry, which is being run as both an investigation and campaign.

It comes after around 4,000 people were evacuated from tower blocks on the Chalcots estate by Camden Council over fears about cladding used on the buildings following the Grenfell Tower disaster.

The New Journal has called on the council to hold a full and independent public investigation into what caused the evacuation, and give reassurance to Chalcots residents and people living on Camden’s other estates that they will be living in safe and secure homes following a review of fire safety.

Camden Chalcots

Its investigation has already uncovered a series of exclusive details about the cladding at the Chalcots estate and the fire safety reports.

Last year the Journal’s Thin Red Line investigation into fire cuts led London Mayor Sadiq Khan to announce there would be a review of fire station closures, as well as the loss of engines and fire fighters.

Deputy editor Richard Osley told HTFP: “Our campaign is to ensure that the people who were driven from their homes in the dark – around 4,000 of them – get the answers they deserve. The evacuation was unprecedented event for Camden – and as their local paper we owe it to those whose lives have been so severely disrupted this week to find out what wrong, and to find out if their lives had been in danger for years.

“They must be reassured, as all council tenants should be, that they are living in a secure, safe home. Today’s paper opens our campaign with ten pages of coverage and follows our live reporting through the weekend. With a settled news team – it must be unusual for a local paper to have three reporters who have been here more than ten years each – we’ve written stories about the Chalcots for a couple of decades.

“It’s time to start writing about solutions, as the residents deserve of those tower blocks deserve better and we setting out to help them get all the answers to their questions. Camden needs to hold an open, independent and full investigation.”