Grenfell Tower fire: Tory Councillor tells victim sat metres away to send him a letter: 'He can write to me directly'

'We have to chase you again and again'

Survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire urged a Conservative assembly member to “wear your human hat” after he told a victim sat in the same room to write to him with any concerns.

A group of residents, many of whom lost family members and their homes in the north Kensington blaze, lashed out at West Central member Tony Devenish accusing him of reeling off “scripted answers” and trying to fulfil “PR for his office”.

One resident asked him: “Could you answer the question instead of telling it?”, to which Mr Devenish replied: “If the gentleman over there has any specific questions he wants dealing with he can write to me directly.”

Mr Devenish, along with Kensington MP Emma Dent Coad and Labour shadow housing minister John Healey, was speaking to survivors on Victoria Derbyshire live. He told the group there were teams of people on the ground trying to solve their issues but residents interrupted the Westminster Councillor, shouting: “Where are they?” and “We have to chase you again and again.”

One resident told him: “What we need from you, and don’t take this personally, we need you to talk to us like a human being not an MP right now because these scripted answers is not doing what we need to hear, it’s bigger than that right now and a lot deeper than that.”

Another urged him to have the “decency” to answer like a “human being.”

It comes as hundreds of people still struggle to access basic amenities after the devastating fire.

Many survivors are still staying in temporary accommodation in “box room” hotels and residents in surrounding blocks have no hot water.

Ms Dent Coad said the humanitarian response had been a “hell of a lot better” than it was two weeks ago but that people were still encountering problems every day.

The BBC said they invited a representative from Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea onto the programme but their invitation was declined.

Ms Coad said: “It’s absolutely appalling, it’s no surprise to me at all that you have an empty chair there having worked on the council for 11 years, the depth of incompetence is absolutely mind boggling.”

It comes as campaign group Justice 4 Grenfell announced it had set up an unofficial database to catalogue the victims of the fire, which they hope can be shared with families.

Fears that many more people died than the 79 confirmed by police have been fuelled by speculation that the tower contained a considerable number of undocumented residents.

The last police update on death toll figures was on 19 June but police did say they expect that number to rise in due course.