Tower block residents defy council's evacuation order over fire safety fears
Some residents fear they will not be adequately housed if they are forced to leave their homes over cladding fire safety fears.
Monday 26 June 2017 04:08, UK
Two days after their dramatic departure from the tower blocks on north London's Chalcots estate, some of the residents have returned, allowed back to collect vital belongings they did not have time to pack on Friday.
Camden Council leader Georgia Gould told Sky News she was planning to knock on doors herself in a bid to persuade those remaining residents to take up the offer of alternative accommodation.
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Friday night's forced evacuation of the high rise blocks was sudden and traumatic for their occupants - and for that Ms Gould apologised.
At celebrations to mark Eid in the nearby Leisure Centre, she told a gathering of dozens of Chalcots residents that she was sorry for the disruption and stress the evacuation had caused.
Ms Gould said that the council was left with no choice after the London Fire brigade declared the blocks unsafe.
The council leader said she was determined to try to convince remaining residents to leave, but if some still refused, the council would have to take action to remove them.
Mahdi Addihakim returned with his mother to pick up their belongings from their apartment in the Taplow block, before heading back to the hotel room which is now home to five of them.
He told me his family were just fed up, that they desperately wanted to go home, but had no idea when that might be.
Ms Gould told us it was hoped the work to remedy the tower block's safety issues would be completed within a month.
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Carl McDowell lives on the 4th floor of Taplow. He's now returned to his flat, unable to stand another night sleeping on an airbed in the leisure centre.
He told us he would be willing to move into temporary accommodation, but the council had not yet responded to his calls.
"Yes, I'm still waiting and waiting to see if they're going to find us anywhere decent to go before they kick us out of here," he said.
In a sequence filmed inside his flat on his mobile phone, Mr McDowell said: "The house is just where it was when we evacuated. I've been back in the house and packed a suitcase, ready and waiting to leave.
"Still haven't heard anything so who knows what they're doing.
"I've called the council number multiple times and they still haven't got back to me. Just waiting to get on out of the place so they can get on doing the work."
Some 60 tower block residents spent a second night at the Swiss Cottage leisure centre. The council said it hoped most would be found temporary accommodation before having to spend a third night there.
At the foot of Bray Tower, I met Raj Want Ludher, who has lived in a 7th floor flat here for 30 years.
She told me she was determined she would not be leaving, that she had no family to go and live with and that she felt perfectly safe in the tower block.
For Camden council officials, it will be a tricky few days ahead, trying to gently coax unwilling residents like Raj Want to leave their homes and desperately hoping they do not have to resort to tougher measures.