Urang are still evading leaseholders’ questions about procedure for Election of Directors of the Chelsea Bridge Wharf RTM company

After a great deal of pressure from residents, Urang reluctantly gave an approximate date for election of directors of the RTM company – now promised by Urang for the end of November 2025. Urang are in theory running the elections, to give an appearance of an independent process, but I have strong evidence that in fact the existing RTM directors are making the key decisions about the electoral process.

Up until November last year (2024), the current directors (Stephen Thompson, Louis Kendall, Toby Spoerer, Katherine Greenway) and former director Larissa Villar-Hauser, were insisting that they would not allow elections for directors of the RTM company and that they would simply remain in power unelected, for as long as they wished. They also said they would appoint new directors based only on their own preferences, and without any reference to leaseholders through a vote.

In March 2025, after pressure from myself and LKP, and my petition, they reluctantly agreed to hold elections but gave no date or process. I questioned then whether there would be fair elections and when they would happen. More than 6 months later this remain unclear.

In July 2025, at the first meeting with Urang, elections were promised (by Tony Hymers of Urang) for 14 September, but were then postponed a few weeks before without any meaningful reason. At the meeting on 15 September, they then said elections would be in October, then November, or “by the end of the year”.

At this meeting, one of the unelected directors, Stephen Thompson, claimed that the current directors had legitimacy because one of them was elected as CBWRA vice-chair (in an election which was 18 months ago and in which 91% of leaseholders did not or could not participate in). https://chelseabridgewharf.org.uk/2024-cbwra-chair-elections-91-of-leaseholders-did-not-or-could-not-vote/
Even though we now have a new “date” for elections (end of November), there is no guarantee elections will happen on that date, and still no electoral process has been given.

I have been asking the same questions of Urang and the current RTM directors for some time and still have no answers.

Questions for which Urang/ Chelsea Bridge Wharf RTM company refuse to answer

• Can you please clarify what the election process will be and publish this?
• Are RTM members to vote on a separate motion for the election of each candidate? Or will directors be allowed to run jointly and pool their votes (as Larissa Villar Hauser and Louis Kendall did in relation to CBWRA chair elections, depute it being in violation of the constitution).
• For what period will directors be elected? A year would make sense but there is a long history of trying to extend the period elected for an continually put off elections.
• Are proxy votes allowed in advance? What external scrutiny will there be of the voting process?
• Is it guaranteed that there actually will be a vote (as opposed to the games with “ratification” as in previous CBWRA elections)?
• Who is the accountable person for ensuring these elections are carried out fairly?
• Can you also explain if there is any meeting planned where members can ask questions of candidates?
  This has been avoided in previous years (in residents’ association chair elections) or have been turned into some sort of social occasion to avoid any genuine debate about the issues, priorities, and different ideas for addressing them.
• How can there be a fair election when the current directors ban those who have different views form the CBW app?

Why does it matter? Well if directors are not elected by you, and cannot be removed by you, then they have no incentive do what YOU want. They will continue to do what they want as they have for the last 5 years and that has not gone too well.

No elections also means that directors (at any development) can behave in the most appalling ways — they may be incompetent, not consult with leaseholders, tell leaseholders things which are not true and even (allegedly) assault a leaseholder. In short there is no accountability without fair elections – that is why they exist.

If you think there should be fair elections for directors at Chelsea Bridge Wharf, and the election process should be published without further delay, please speak up about it on the CBW app and/or email Paige Anderson at Urang: paige.anderson@urang.co.uk

Please sign the petition if you have not done so already:

https://www.change.org/p/elections-must-be-held-for-directors-of-the-chelsea-bridge-wharf-right-to-manage-company

Feel free to email residents@chelseabridgewharf.org.uk if any questions and please join the CBW Community Facebook group – a forum where all view are welcome.

if you want to have a say – you have to fight for it I’m afraid. That’s how things are at CBW. Silence means there will be no change.

Update: On the 16th October (the day after I published the above) I received a reply form Urang (Paige Anderson). unfortunately it does not address the questions I asked and simply supplies a lot of largely irrelevant information about the electronic voting platform to be used but nothing at all about the voting process and the questions above. I would have to conclude that Urang and the RTM company do intend to play the same games with elections as have been playing with CBWRA chair elections and I would also have to conclude that Paige Anderson/Urang think that I and the other leaseholders at this development are too stupid to notice that she is not answering the questions which Urang have been asked. It does not reflect well on them to say the least.