The reasons for the latest changes to electoral rules become clear – only 130 leaseholders (11.3%) are eligible to vote for Chair of CBWRA

There was a useful debate today between candidates for CBWRA Chair (myself and Larisa Villar Hauser/Louis Sebastian Kendall). Thanks to all residents who came and to Catherine Thome for chairing in an impartial manner. CBWRA initially wanted to avoid a debate and to have each candidate in separate room, then residents could ‘mingle’ with each candidate. This nonsensical idea was abandoned eventually and the candidates did have a debate or discussion in one room, with perhaps 10-12 residents attending. I will give a fuller account later but one of the most interesting facts that emerged was that only 130 people will be eligible to vote in the Chair elections. That is the total number of paid up members, from around 1,150 leaseholders and a total population of around 2,000 living at CBW. In percentage terms around 11.3% of leaseholders are eligible to vote (130/1150*100) and therefore 88.7% of Chelsea Bridge Wharf leaseholders are not eligible to vote in the current CBWRA chair elections.

This is pretty shocking and as I said at the meeting it is a really damning indictment of the CBWRA committee’s failure to engage with residents over a long period. Perhaps they should have listened to me when I was on the committee in 2021 and tried, at every committee meeting, to get them to meet with, or consult with, residents. Indeed I have continued to ask them to do that throughout 2022, 2023 and up to the present.

This crazy situation also results from CBWRA’s decision to change the constitution so that only paid members can vote has been disastrous as I predicted in my video a short while ago. Turnout at the last Chair election was around 30% if we assume that all leaseholders were contacted (350 people voted out of 1,150 leaseholders approx). In fact not all leaseholders were contacted and a large chunk of those that were, received only an email from Chris Garston of Garton-Jones, with a voting link, and strong recommendation to vote for Larisa and Louis. Suppose we have a higher turnout this time, even 50% let’s say, then that’s going to be just 65 people voting. 65 (Sixty-five people) out of 1,150 leaseholders approx. So then it becomes clear why CBWRA suddenly decided to change the rules on people with multiple properties – that leaseholders have to buy a RA membership for each property if they wish to get a vote for it. I believe it is likely that they did this because they have looked at the voting data from previous elections and they know that I have more supporters with multiple properties than they have. The change of rules will probably mean I lose about 20-30 votes. This would not normally matter but if only 65 people will vote, then it does matter and hence the change of rules. The idea that leaseholder have to buy an additional membership from the CBWRA for each property they own (if they wish to get a vote for that property) is ridiculous and I doubt that anyone will make such payments and I suspect CBWRA know that. In my view, the idea is to reduce the number of votes from owners of multiple properties because those people are more likely to vote for me (I am not entirely sure why that is but I do have several supporters with 2,3 or 4 properties – perhaps because people in this group are paying more attention to what is going on with service charges, CBWRA, RTM etc because they have more at stake).

But even if Larisa and Louis get 100% of the votes in this election, it will mean nothing. They have made this election even more meaningless and unfair than the last and the last one was pretty shocking. This decision to restrict voting to 130 people has in fact trashed any remaining shred of legitimacy which the CBWRA chairs, or CBWRA itself might have. They do not represent the leaseholders of CBW or the residents generally. They are a tiny group of around 6 active committee members, most of whom, in my view, have systematically sought to close down criticism and debate on the CBW app and elsewhere, have avoided consultation wherever possible, and have conducted elections which are self evidently unfair. This is how they end up where they are now – a sham of a residents’ association, a hollow shell, a facade with no foundations. It is very hard to have any confidence in this organisation to conduct itself appropriately and in a rules-based fashion and unfortunately, it does not bode well for the future, unless there is a complete change of culture and leadership.

On countless occasions I have advised the CBWRA committee to change course, to stop these silly games and behave like a normal residents’ association. This is where it ends up when you don’t do that. Broken governance (one committee member being the subject of 4 police complaints, another allegedly having posted anti-Semitic tweets and both still in place) and an alienated and disengaged resident population. The CBWRA finances must be in a pretty desperate state too if there are only 130 members, I would imagine most of those members are paying £20 (why would you pay £48 if you can pay £20?). Let’s generously assume the average membership fee of 48+20 (£34) * 130 = £4,420 of annual income, at best and probably nearer to £3,000. Perhaps it was not such a smart idea to increase membership fees by 140% in February 2023 and then to bizarrely reverse that decision a few months later (when predictably no one paid it) and then to leave both the old and new membership fees in place.

No doubt the ‘committee’ are racing to produce their own notes of this meeting which as ever will be vague, meaningless and leave out any real point of debate, interest or controversy. They will email the notes privately (only to RA members i.e. 130 people) rather than post on the app. They will be so bland and pointless that no one will read them (as intended). And so the disengagement continues.

Please vote for me, if you have not already done so. The governance of CBWRA needs fixing and my manifesto explains how I would do that. Thanks for your time.

https://chelseabridgewharf.org.uk/2024/03/19/chelsea-bridge-wharf-right-to-manage-chair-elections-and-the-need-for-change-in-cbwra/