Burdett Estate residents have warned for years that blocked access roads could stop emergency services from responding. On 18 September, that warning was put to the test.

The Fire

Just after noon on Friday 18 September, a fire started behind a block of flats on the estate. London Fire Brigade took the first calls at 12.39 pm and sent three fire engines. The fire destroyed a garden shed and damaged part of a ground-floor flat. About 35 people left the building before the crews arrived, and paramedics treated five at the scene. The fire was out by 1.32 pm.

It could have been much worse. A five-month-old baby and a disabled resident were in the flat opposite. Both got out safely.

The Crews Could Not Get In

Residents speak of parked vehicles blocking the access roads. The fire engines had to stay outside the estate, and firefighters ran long hoses in on foot.

Residents were grateful to the firefighters and the Metropolitan Police officers who came that day. They did their jobs in conditions that should never have existed. The question is why those conditions did exist.

The Week Before

On 14 September, cars blocked the bays kept for disabled residents, and police were called. On 16 September, residents warned Poplar HARCA, publicly, that fire engines and ambulances could not get through. They asked them to act before an emergency, not after one.

The fire also came six days after a man died in a fire in a tower block on Blackwall Way, elsewhere in Poplar. Many people on the estate were already frightened. When they saw smoke on the 18th, that fear was real.

Four Years Of Warnings. Four Years of Neglect?

The Burdett Estate has grown by 30%, from 800 residential units to over 1200. This increase was due to an infill housing building program as well as the conversion of industrial units along Thomas Road to residential units. However, there have not been significant changes to current infrastructure or management due to this influx of residents.

In 2018, Tower Hamlets council purchased units from Poplar HARCA in the Burdett Estate. As part of an investment in purchasing stick to house families in temporary accommodation. Making Tower Hamlets Council the second largest landlord on the Burdett Estate.

When I was a councillor in the ward from 2018 -2022, these issues came to the fore. And to their credit, Poplar HARCA were responsive to concerns raised around fire risk assessments, following the Grenfell Tragedy in June 2017. However, it seems this proactive approach was not followed by the Labour Councillors after me. Residents complained of the cosy relationship between the councillors and Poplar HARCA, with one in particular more interested in lobbying to take over the mosque in a neighbouring HARCA estate than take up residents’ concerns.

The Estate Board has raised parking with Poplar HARCA for more than four years. In that time HARCA has:

• raised parking charges without improving anything;
• access for emergency services
• sold parking bays to people who do not live here as well as to residents;
• failed to enforce its own rules.

Cars park on the pavements every day. That makes it hard for older and disabled neighbours, and for anyone with a pushchair or wheelchair, to get about safely. Commercial vans and people from outside the estate take advantage.

In 2026, the residents voted the Labour Councillors out. Time will tell whether and how the new Aspire councillors will respond to residents’ concerns.

Still Blocked

More than a week after the fire, the road the fire engines could not use is still blocked.

There has been some progress. On the morning of 26 September, contractors from PCM, the parking enforcement company, cleaned spray paint off the parking signs and ticketed illegally parked cars. Residents were glad to see it and want it to continue.

But the wider problems remain:

• Someone has dumped an unregistered car on the estate, and nobody has removed it.
• Other broken and unused vehicles are being left here. Residents report cars being stripped for parts, and the estate being used to store towed vehicles without permission.
• Vandals damage the parking signs again and again

Moving Forward: Petition and Residents Working Group

Residents have raised a petition addressed to Tower Hamlets Council and Poplar HARCA. Asking the following questions:

1. Who is responsible for keeping the emergency routes on the estate clear?
2. What did you do about the warnings residents gave before the fire?
3. Why were the routes blocked on the day of the fire, and why are they still blocked?
4. What will you do, and by when, to enforce the rules, clear the routes, and remove abandoned cars?
5. If someone dies because a fire engine cannot get through, who will answer for it?

The idea is for a resident-led steering group to be established to work with Poplar HARCA and Tower Hamlets Council to approve a work plan, with completion dates for fire safety on the estate, and to oversee its implementation and feedback, with updates to residents.