Over 140 households - including many with young children - are currently trapped in unsafe affordable housing on the doorstep of Arsenal's Emirates Stadium. Newlon Housing Trust, the housing association responsible for the development, has claimed the required remedial works to make buildings 1 and 3 Queensland Road fire safe will take up two years to complete, which leaseholders vehemently believe is an unsatisfactory timescale. Our lives have already been put at risk and on hold for too long.

As part of the Arsenal Regeneration Programme to provide 1,500 affordable houses in the area, 1 and 3 Queensland Road, N7, were completed in 2013 by Kier Group on behalf of Newlon Housing Trust.

These distinctive blue and gold towers were sold to first-time buyers, key workers and community members as part of the shared ownership scheme.

On 14 June 2017, 72 people tragically lost their lives in the Grenfell Tower fire in London. The disaster shone fresh light on the safety of high-rise residential buildings, resulting in the introduction of new regulations and standards for all housing developments over 18 metres high.

Subsequent building investigations carried out at 1 and 3 Queensland Road deem they are not compliant with the requirements of Building Regulation 135 (BR135). This is due to insufficient internal fire-stopping and cladding insulation, which must be rectified.

Residents have remained patient for over six months under the proviso that all issues with the buildings are being resolved by Newlon Housing Trust and urgent action would be taken to ensure our homes can be made safe as soon as possible - while taking every measure to prevent any costs being passed to leaseholders.

A lack of clarity regarding who is paying for the remedial works and when they will be undertaken has brought leaseholders to a juncture where we now want transparent information from Newlon Housing Trust about the plan to make our homes safe as quickly as possible.

Leaseholders have been unable to sell, staircase or remortgage their flats, as providers are not prepared to lend while the building has been deemed unsafe and the timescale for repairs is uncertain.

We want to support any efforts being made to ensure this process is being carried out with the utmost urgency.

With this is mind, we have asked that Newlon Housing Trust do the following:

1. Ensure residents remain informed of the details of the fire issues and progress of work throughout

2. Ensure required fire safety works are carried out as quickly as possible

3. Provide evidence that Newlon are exploring all options to avoid cost being passed to leaseholders 

4. Keep residents informed of 'in case of fire’ procedure

These issues have been advised at constituency level Case Ref: JC7122 with details being sent to the Rt Hon Jeremy Corbyn and to Cllr Diarmaid Ward, Executive Member for Housing & Development at Islington Council.

This petition was shared with Newlon Housing Trust on 22 June 2020 and leaseholders received a response from 2 July 2020. However, we still welcome new signatures in support of the campaign as residents continue to seek further action on the above requests.

The next Queensland Road Residents Association Meeting will take place on 20 July 2020.