By Danielle Aumord

The mood in the North Kensington community was sombre in the lead up to the seventh anniversary of the Grenfell Tower fire on Friday, 14 June and there’s been a feeling of stagnation combined with frustration in the air.

Seven long years since the tragedy and not much has changed. The charred remains of the tower, wrapped in white plastic, still stand in the middle of the Lancaster West estate, as debates continue to swirl over its future and whether it should remain as a part of the long-planned memorial to the 72 residents who passed away on that terrible night.

Grenfell was the heartbeat of ‘Lanc West’, as it’s affectionately known by the residents. At the time of the fire, the estate had been a regeneration estate for many years, with controversial plans to demolish the walkways and move residents out of the area – even as far as Birmingham.

But when Grenfell went up in flames, those plans were scrapped and for nearly four days there was no local or central support for the survivors of the fire, so the community did what it had always done – turned inwards to help each other.

I remember at the first formal meeting after the fire, when the Kensington and Chelsea TMO stated that they didn’t have a full list of the tenants that lived at Grenfell tower, members of the community set about making their own so they could accurately account for all residents. No one was going to be forgotten.

Fast forward to today, Lancaster West is still a regeneration estate with a £140million budget from central government and refurbishment plans that are due to be completed in 2030. But estate residents remember, like it was yesterday, the screams and the cries for help of the people trapped inside the burning building. They are still traumatised by what they saw, and many have expressed the desire to move away from the area, so they no longer have to look at the tower every day. One woman who attended the silent march on Friday confided that she keeps the blinds in her window pulled down just so that she doesn’t have to see it.

The trauma has been exacerbated by the long wait to receive the phase two report from the Grenfell Tower Public Inquiry and the recent statement by the Metropolitan Police and Crown Prosecution Service that any criminal charges in connection with the tragedy won’t come before 2026, which will be almost a decade on from the fatal fire. A Grenfell next of kin, who wishes to remain unnamed, has expressed that she thinks that the criminal investigation will take longer.

The phase two public inquiry report is due to be published in September and is expected to include recommendations aimed at the construction industry for improving the safety of their building projects.

The feeling within the community is that there are hopes that the recommendations will be robust enough to improve safety within new builds. But Grenfell survivor Emma O’Connor fears that they might not be and that there might be room within the recommendations for construction companies to manoeuvre within them.

Emma and her partner Luke escaped from the 20th floor of the tower, during the fire. She said: “Ideally, I would like the recommendations in the report to become legislation. That would give me more confidence.

“When I look at buildings now, I can’t help but wonder what they’re clad in, and I am terrified. I know that if a fire happened, the consequences would be devasting. If a fire broke out, at a large sporting event, for example, with the right wind, everyone would be screwed.”

But the community has taken solace in the ritual of the silent march, which tends to take place on the 14th day of every month as a way to come together, to reflect and remember the ones that we’ve lost in the fire. Approximately 7,000 people gathered outside the Methodist Church on Lancaster Road last Friday to begin the walk, which usually ends within a space underneath the Westway dual carriageway called Hope Gardens. Some attendees carried placards saying, “This much evidence still no charges”.

Everywhere I looked I could see people hugging each other and a stream of green – the colour now associated with Grenfell. The walk culminated in a gospel choir breaking the silence with songs of redemption and hope.

I get the sense that at least the North Kensington community can find strength and comfort within one another in the long wait on the road to justice.