Category Archive: Charlie Garton-Jones

Notes from the Right to Manage meetings at CBW (30 Nov and 1 Dec)

Thanks to all who attended these meetings and to Canonbury Estate Management for providing expert advice. The standout points are

i) The advice given by Stephen Thompson/Roger Southam/Charlie Garton-Jones/CBWRA that Right to Manage for the whole development is not possible because of the supreme court judgement of First Port v Settlers Court is categorically WRONG. David Breare of Canonbury added that in his view, any competent advisor/consultant would come to the same conclusion (i.e. it’s not a grey area),

This confirms Canonbury’s written advice of June 2022 https://chelseabridgewharf.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/canonbury-summary-advice-1.6.22-correspondence-1522672.pdf

Residents should recall that this judgement of First Port v Settler’s Court was (according to Mr Thompson) the reasons why Right to Manage was not pursued at the start of 2022 and why the management contract retendering was chosen (this failed in Sep. 2022, in my view wasting up to £15,000 of residents’ money).

ii) The current position of CBWRA (after 2 years of saying that Right to Manage is not possible) is that they will investigate RTM on a block by block basis. Canonbury were equally clear that this will not work because all blocks are linked by an underground car park, and therefore cannot be considered as separate for the purposes of RTM (they are not vertically separated).

Chelsea Bridge Wharf Residents’ Association – nothing to show for £15,000 of residents’ money – no apologies, no resignations

Retendering the management contract: How it started – and how it’s going. Failure of retendering the management contractYou may be aware that in January of this year the Chelsea Bridge Wharf Residents’ Association… Continue reading

Garton-Jones estate agents amazing deal with Chelsea Bridge Wharf Residents’ Association – FREE advertising on the CBW app

Since 2021, Garton-Jones estate agents has enjoyed an amazing deal with the Chelsea Bridge Wharf Residents’ Association for exclusive use of the ‘estate agent’ page on the Chelsea Bridge Wharf for just £504 a year. This is interesting given that Garton-Jones’ 1.75% commission on a single apartment sale (at say £600,000) would be worth £10,500.)

Expressions of interest in buying the CBW app estate agent advertising slot from at least one other major estate agent have apparently been ignored, which to my mind is extremely worrying. The value of the advertising can only be determined by market testing/competition. It is not in residents’ interest to continue to give this advertising to Garton-Jones estate agent at what seems like an extremely cheap rate.

Mr Charlie Garton-Jones was a member of the CBWRA committee until Jan.22 and retains links with the CBWRA committee (he is apparently on the so called (and unelected) ‘oversight committee’ and is responsible for organising the elections for Chair /committee).

Rendall & Rittner censor notes of residents’ meeting at Chelsea Bridge Wharf

Below is the text of an official complaint which I made to Rendall & Rittner  regarding the notes of  the last residents’ meeting (October 2016). The notes, which were not circulated for more than a month after the meeting, systematically censored the vocal… Continue reading

Berkeley Homes – planning applications – Grosvenor Arch, Sopwith Way

These relate to the entrance to Grosvenor Arch Sopwith Way and one of the sets of stairs to Chelsea Bridge Wharf from Queenstown Road. The deadline for comments and objections is 6th February 2017 . Neither Berkeley Homes,… Continue reading

Great News – Council orders closure of Sopwith Way depots!

Wandsworth Council have informed the author of this blog that they have ordered Berkeley Homes to close these depots by 11th November or face enforcement action. This decision follows a large number of written objections… Continue reading