On Monday 19 May, the Labour-led Westminster Council instructed Morgan Sindall to start removing internal doors in Holcroft Court. The doors have been in place for over 30 years and were originally installed to restrict anti-social behaviour within the block by stopping bikes being ridden indoors and preventing easy internal escape routes for criminals. The Council now says their removal is necessary for fire safety, but they have not communicated this or shown us any evidence that it had to be done.
Residents are telling us that there was no proper consultation before the removal of doors started. Lots of residents have already emailed us to say they feel vulnerable with the removal of doors that have for a long time been an important part of making residents feel secure within individual blocks. We are sure that many more will also be concerned.
As your local Conservative councillors, we are calling for the council to pause works until they have properly engaged with the residents across Holcroft.
Cllr Paul Fisher said:
“All we are asking is that residents be properly consulted before such interventions are started. It’s time to stop, pause and engage before taking further steps. It’s right that residents and local councillors are able to interrogate the reasons for removing these doors before taking any further action.”
Cllr Tim Barnes stressed:
“While there may be perfectly valid fire safety reasons for this, the point is that residents haven’t had an opportunity to consider them. The council needs to at least communicate with residents before taking any drastic action.”
Your local Councillors have repeated calls for the process of removal to be suspended until the council proves it is willing to listen to and engage with residents.
