CBWRA committee – latest developments in their weird campaign to monopolise communications at Chelsea Bridge Wharf

 

CBWRA committee – latest developments in their weird campaign to monopolise communications at Chelsea Bridge Wharf

Oct 13, 2024

Rather predictably and without consultation, the CBWRA continue their weird controlling behaviour by planning to close the CBWRA Facebook group (according to Sep 2024 CBWRA committee meeting notes).

It is sad that the CBWRA co-chairs (Larisa Villar Hauser and Louis Sebastian Kendall) never seem to learn anything from the past. The refusal to accept that there can be legitimate criticism of the Chairs/committee and the apparent unwillingness to allow free debate, and the attempts to silence me by closure of my CBW app account, and other means, is what has caused most of the conflict and tension at this development. Rather than learn the lessons and try and behave like a normal residents’ association they seem determined to double down on the mistakes of the past. As I have said to them on many occasions this is a path which will only lead to more conflict and that, rather than trying to silence other perspectives, they should be mature enough to engage with legitimate scrutiny and criticism. They should also have the courage to face the leaseholders in fair elections rather than the highly manipulated farce of an electoral process which currently pertains. They, and the other directors of the Right to Manage company (Toby Spoerer, Katherine Greenway and Stephen Thompson) should also be prepared to stand for election as Directors of the Right to Manage Company. Why are they so scared to do this?

The CBWRA September committee meeting notes (which are only emailed to the 13% of leaseholders who are CBWRA members) state that CBWRA are working on making the CBWRA FB page inactive and that Stephen Thompson volunteered to investigate the use of the “chelseabridgewharf” identity by anyone who does not represent the residents’ association.

The CBWRA committee also insult our intelligence by pretending there is some work involved in moderating their FB group.

The same notes also state that a survey of residents will NOT be carried out until we are ”much nearer RTM” but the tribunal hearing is at at least 4 months away (for reasons which are not at all clear), The September 2024 CBWRA committee notes give residents a laughable and cryptic 3 line ‘update’ on ‘progress’ with the inexplicably delayed Right to Manage application.

So this is just, yet again, a way to avoid consulting residents, just as they avoid meeting with them whenever possible, or if they do, they refuse to take note from the meeting, so that there is no record of any criticism of the CBWRA committee.

The only meaningful resident consultation ever carried out by CBWRA remains the 2021 survey which I personally carried out while on the committee and which was largely ignored.

The idea that CBWRA (which has only has around 10% of leaseholders as members and whose committee is not elected and whose ‘co-chairs’ are elected in a farcical process worthy of a banana republic) should have a monopoly on the use of the term ‘Chelsea Bridge Wharf’ (which is simply the name of this development) is beyond ludicrous and suggests delusions of grandeur as well as an authoritarian culture and a desire to silence criticisms of CBWRA (which we are well aware of already of in the fact that my CBW app account was closed for simply pointing out that the CBWRA committee (under the ‘leadership’ of Mr Thompson’) were misinforming residents in stating that Right to Manage was not possible.)

It sounds like the CBWRA committee are are trying to exercise an imaginary monopoly on the use of ‘Chelsea Bridge Wharf ‘ (i.e. to try to shut down my blog which gets thousands of views a month).
This could in my view legitimately be read as ”Stephen Thompson/CBWRA committee is trying to find a way to shut down Mike O’Driscoll’s blog or other social media which has pointed out some rather inconvenient truths about Mr Thompson/CBWRA committee” (see below).

https://chelseabridgewharf.org.uk/fact-and-fiction-at-cbw/

In view of Mr Thompson’s behaviour over a very long period, some residents feel that it is wholly unacceptable he is still on the CBWRA committee and a Director of the Right to Manage Company. It is also disgraceful in my view that the Co-Chairs and committee continue to defend him – this seems to indicate endorsement or denial of his behaviour.

For any resident who wants to be able to speak freely and engage in intelligent discussion about the issues that matter , without being bullied, censored or gaslit, do feel free to join this Facebook group which is run by leaseholders at CBW. Unlike the app, we value freedom of speech and all points of view are welcome.

The Chelsea Bridge Wharf Residents’ Association have no mandate from the residents of this development, only around 13% of leaseholders are members and hence they are not recognised by the freeholder. They remain in power because they have banned their main opponent (i.e. me) from the CBW app, the suppression of discussion on the app and because of highly manipulated and self evidently unfair Chair election process, a culture of fear on the CBW app, refusal to take notes at meetings with residents, refusing to report how many residents voted against ratification of the committee at the AGM, insisting that they will only address queries through private enquiry (rather than participating in public discussion) and no elections at all for committee or Directors.

Please do not allow this small group of people (the CBWRA co-chairs and committee), who in my view have have no democratic mandate, to tell you, as a leaseholder or resident, what you may say, do or think about them, about this development or about anything else. I also note that at least one of the committee members is not a leaseholder at Chelsea Bridge Wharf and has not been for some time and also it appears that people are being added to the committee without any process at all. It is not at all clear that these people are even capable of achieving RTM (they are after all the same people who misinformed residents for 2 year that it was impossible) and I find the idea of these people being in charge of a £6 million service charge budget (if they ever manage to get RTM) absolutely terrifying.