The Chelsea Bridge Wharf Residents Association announced today (28th Feb 2025) that they will hold elections for Directors of the Chelsea Bridge Wharf Right to Manage Company, which will take over running of… Continue reading
CBWRA have invited expressions of interest for the 2025 chair elections. Here is my reply. What do you, dear resident, think? Or do you feel too intimidated to express a view? Dear CBWRA… Continue reading
Summary: CBWRA members are being asked to vote for the ”ratification” of a group of people without any idea of what they have done, what they stand for or even who they are.… Continue reading
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… Continue reading
vote AGAINST ratification of committee (because they are not consulting residents, the consultations they do carry out are biased/ leading and the proposed quarterly ‘forums’ are too infrequent and exclude non-leaseholders. Also there is not freedom of speech on the app, and the CBWRA committee misinformed residents about RTM and have not explained or apologised for that). Also that there should be ELECTIONS not ‘ratification’
· VOTE AGAINST the ratification of the constitution because we are only being given 10 days to see it before the meeting (it will only come around on 30 AUG)
· VOTE AGAINST CBWRA fees rise CBWRA have never given any meaningful justification for the 140% increase in fees which they carried out in Feb this year. They claimed it was partly for legal fees to do with RTM but they have also said Urang (the proposed new managing agent) are covering all fees or will recover them through the service charge.
I also encourage residents to consider withholding all payment to CBWRA until they adopt normal standards of governance in respect of fair elections, free speech and resident consultation. #NOSAYNOPAY
It has been reported to the author of this blog that a property in Howard building has been used as an Airbnb for at least two years and possibly longer. The property is listed here:
https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/6683135
The property, which goes for upwards of £450 a night, was apparently purchased in 2015 for £1,025,000 and is currently valued at up to £1,022,000 (according to themovemarket.com).).
*CBWRA plans to spend huge sums on new fountains *no meaningful response on massive service charge increases * CCTV installed in block foyers with no consultation *no action on management audit
In summary, dear CBWRA, thank you for the work that (some) of the committee are doing, but could I respectfully suggest that you please stop trying to blow smoke up the residents’ rear ends and start behaving like a normal democratic residents’ association, then we might actually get somewhere as a community of engaged residents. Even the CBWRA home page is not being straight with us – ‘a board of elected residents’?. No one on the committee is elected apart from the co-Chairs and there are many aspects of that which are questionable to say the least.
The reforms which CBWRA maintained for 2 years were just around the corner are unlikely to materialise Throughout 2021 while on the CBWRA committee, attempts to discuss Right to Manage in committee meetings… Continue reading
If you have not done so yet, please vote in the CBWRA Chair elections. I have made Right to Manage and reform of the residents’ association my top manifesto priorities. You need only… Continue reading
What CBWRA’s letter should have said in my view is ”we are being derecognised because we outsourced our membership management/ fee taking to Rendall and Rittner , rather than run our own membership databases, and Rendall and Rittner then withdrew that service (according to CBWRA) when they heard that Right to manage might start and we now have no way to prove we have 50% leaseholder membership”.
