CBWRA fountains consultation update: CBWRA confirm new pumps could go ahead even if a large majority of leaseholders vote against

Some weeks ago I published this article about the CBWRA fountains ‘consultation’ and pointed out that it was biased and unprofessional and clearly leading residents heavily towards supporting the installation of new pumps. One of the biggest issues is that the ‘no new pumps’ vote has deliberately been split into two so that ‘yes to pumps’ is almost guaranteed to ‘win’ even if 60% of people voted against pumps.

Imagine the following scenario with the voting for each option as follows:

1) I am in favour of spending money on submersible pumps and paying lower energy costs until the long-term fountains options are studied, decided on and installed. 40%
2) I am against spending money on submersible pumps and would rather pay higher energy costs until the long-term fountains options are studied, decided on and installed. 30%
3) I am against spending money on submersible pumps and would rather leave the fountains inoperable until the long-term fountains options are studied, decided on and installed. 30%

In this (hypothetical) scenario a clear majority (60%) have voted against pumps but CBWRA have confirmed that in such a scenario, option one, to go ahead with new pumps (with 40%) would still be considered the winner even though it would clearly be a minority view. In my view, as a professional in research and consultation, this is an incredibly cynical and underhand approach which insults the intelligence of CBW residents (as usual) and treats us with contempt.

CBWRA have declined to say how many leaseholders have been contacted and invited to take part in the consultation but report that just 204 valid votes have been received which corresponds to a mere 18% of leaseholders (total = 1150 approx). Therefore 82% of leaseholders have not voted at all and I am sure that for some, the reason is that they can see this is not a genuine or meaningful consultation.

As at 14.8.23 CBWRA report the results of the consultation to date as follows

109 or 53.43% in favour of submersible pumps
9 or 4.4% in favour of turning current pumps on at current electricity price
86 or 42.16% in favour of leaving the fountains out of operation

Or to put this in more valid terms, so far 53% of votes are for pumps, and 46% against. So despite the biased consultation if the ‘no pumps’ vote is taken as a whole (as it should be) then voting is close. (109 for pumps, 95 against in raw frequencies, a difference of 14 votes).

CBWRA’s attempt to falsely divide the ‘no pumps’ vote must not be allowed to succeed. I urge all who have not voted yet, to do so and to choose option 3 ”I am against spending money on submersible pumps and would rather leave the fountains inoperable until the long-term fountains options are studied, decided on and installed”. If you have not received the voting link or cannot find it please contact info@cbwra.com

If the two no pumps options add up to more than 50% in the final results then residents must insist that the new pumps do not go ahead and that CBWRA listens to what residents want rather than trying to wats even more residents money on fountains which are always going to be high maintenance and high electricity. I think the very shabbily elected Co Chairs Larissa Villar Hauser and Louis Sebastian Kendall should be ashamed of this consultation which is as biased and unprofessional as they get.