The public inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire, chaired by retired Court of Appeal judge Sir Martin Moore-Bick, has formally opened.
It will examine the circumstances leading up to and surrounding the fire on 14 June 2017, establish the facts and make recommendations to prevent a similar tragedy happening again. A preliminary report will be produced by Easter 2018.
Sir Martin will be assisted by deputy High Court judge Richard Millett QC, of Essex Court, as Counsel to the Inquiry. Millett’s role includes presenting evidence and questioning witnesses and providing Sir Martin with legal advice.
Assisting Millett will be Bernard Richmond QC, of Lamb Building, a criminal defence specialist and Assistant Coroner; and Kate Grange QC, of 39 Essex Chambers, who specialises in commercial, construction, public and inquiry law.
The Solicitor to the Inquiry will be Caroline Featherstone, who was a nurse before qualifying as a solicitor in 1998 and is now a Deputy Director in the Government Legal Department. The Secretary to the Inquiry is Mark Fisher, previously Director of the Office for Civil Society and Innovation in the Cabinet Office.
On the first day, Sir Martin rejected calls for a survivor to be included as one of his team of assessors as that would ‘risk undermining [his] impartiality’.
He was heckled as he left for declining to take a question from Michael Mansfield QC, who is advising some of the locals involved in the inquiry.
It will be up to Sir Martin to decide what documents should be produced and who should give evidence. Former residents of the tower, families of residents and people who live nearby will be invited to take part in the inquiry, and many will have applied for ‘core participant’ status. The government has promised to fund legal representation for participants.
The inquiry’s terms of reference include the scope and adequacy of building and fire regulations, guidance and industry practice relating to high-rise residential buildings, whether these regulations, guidance and practice were complied with, the arrangements made by the local authority and other bodies for receiving and acting upon information from local residents and other sources relating to the risk of fire, and the action taken in response. It will also cover the response of the London Fire Brigade and the response of central and local government in the days following the fire.
