What were the Council doing?

During the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower fire I have been perplexed at the reaction (or rather the non reaction) of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

When I was at Babergh District Council there was a good deal of focus on Emergency Planning.  Indeed all councillors were encouraged to attend training, Parishes were, and are still, helped to produce their own emergency plans,  and in the few situations when emergencies occurred during my period of service, the council acquitted itself well.   Shelters were immediately set up where necessary, and action plans were triggered.

Of course nothing of the enormous scale of the North Kensington disaster ever occurred, but I cannot help feeling that the Babergh response would have been immediate, well organised and effective,  and also that other Suffolk councils would have offered assistance and support.  I remember during the tidal surge last year (that never actually happened) officers from all parts of Suffolk plus the Fire Service and Police, were all on hand, manning emergency relief centres, which, thankfully, never had to be used.

The leadership of Kensington and Chelsea has been notable by its silence, and yet they are directly accountable for the tragedy, and are responsible for the immediate response. Several days have passed now and I find it  very odd that the Government has now had to call on the Red Cross and civil servants to fill the gap.

On the face of it, it seems to be that councillors in leadership roles at the London authority should be considering their positions.