User:Fighting Poverty

I'm also User:Eating Nicely. I originally used this account to deal with the whole poverty question and not just food. I was enjoying switching between the two accounts but some others feel all that was problematic. I'm starting a new account as Nuggets of Knowledge. I'll link all three accounts and once Nuggets of Knowledge is autoconfirmed use that mainly or exclusively.

Where I live
Where do I live? I live near the top of a council tower block (built circa 1970 -1980). There is parkland that the council provides and we all like it. There are also real spectacular views. Our council estate has some good points. There is a great deal of social deprivation which I see on a daily basis and many tenants are worse off than I am.

Fire safety
After the Grenfell Tower fire I got frightened. New cladding and insulation was put onto our tower block just over a year ago. It has improved our lives and I've noticed I need less fuel to heat my flat in winter. I've also noticed fewer tenants in winter are talking with concern about their fuel bills. What about the fire risk though?

When I asked the warden of our scheme, she assured me our cladding is much safer than the cladding on Grenfell Tower was and she insisted, our local authority is always OTT (over the top) about things like fire safety. I telephoned someone I know who is a former councillor, said I was frightened and would trust no political party over this (not even his party). It's easier to reassure people than to admit cladding that's been there for less than 18 months is unsatisfactory and needs replacing. I was sent duplicated material about cladding and fire safety in tower blocks run by my local authority. I telephoned the former councillor again and said the technical jargon meant nothing to me. Neither of us can understand the technical jargon, we're not fire safety experts, still I was assured technical experts have seen the same duplicated material and if anything were wrong they would say so.

I'm less frigheened now but I don't feel as safe as I felt before the Grenfell Tower fire.