In the wake of the Grenfell Tower tragedy, Athelstane Aamodt reflects on the history & effectiveness of public inquiries
The horrific fire at Grenfell Tower on 14 June in West London is thought to have claimed the lives of at least 80 people. The police will not know the final number of deaths before the end of this year, such is the scope of the task that confronts the authorities. The role of the flammable cladding on the outside of the building led to inquiries being made as to whether such cladding had been used elsewhere. The Prime Minister Theresa May informed the House of Commons on 28 June that the cladding on 120 buildings in 37 different local authorities had failed fire tests. Clearly, hundreds if not thousands of people were (and are) at risk.
The scale of the disaster has led, as is often the case in situations such as these, to calls for a public inquiry. It seems as though that when public disasters or scandals occur, the calls for ‘a full and independent inquiry’ are made with greater frequency
