Grenfell memorial government funding approved

Government funding for a permanent memorial to those who died in the Grenfell Tower fire has been approved through all key stages of Parliament without opposition.

The memorial is to be built on the current site of the tower in north Kensington, where 72 people died in a fire in June 2017.

A new law that would release money for the scheme passed through the House of Lords on Tuesday evening. It is due to to be given Royal Ascent in the coming months.

Architecture firm Freehaus was chosen to design the memorial last year and will work with bereaved families and members of the local community.

A final design is expected to be published next year, with the project being managed by the Grenfell Tower Memorial Commission.

The communities secretary Steve Reed announced earlier this year the Grenfell Tower Memorial (Expenditure) Bill would go through Parliament to allow the government to fund the project.

The 24-storey tower on the Lancaster West Estate was largely destroyed by the fire, which began in a fourth-floor kitchen and rapidly spread around the outside of the building.

Speaking in a debate to approve spending on the memorial, former head of the London Fire Brigade Lord Roe backed the scheme: "The physical memorial that must be laid there on the Lancaster West is for the families, is for those who survived."

He spoke about meeting the family of the victim who he saw jump out of the building, adding: "If you ever doubt the necessity of it, I would ask you to think to my colleague and to the family of that young man, the desperate situation they found themselves in, and the courage with which they have lifted themselves since."

Conservative shadow minister Baroness Scott of Bybrook said: "This is not a political issue. We must work together across the political divides to do the right thing for the Grenfell community."

Work to dismantle the tower begun late last year and is due to be completed by the end of 2027.

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