Rejecting the Lib Dems

A clear conflict of interest


The New Mill Quarter (NMQ) Executive Committee tabled a motion with unanimous support to be voted on by Residents. The motion is as follows:

The Executive Committee has voted to formally block the Liberal Democrats from campaigning, canvassing or otherwise operating in NMQ on SDEN or similar whilst they appear to remain bias, retain a conflict of interest and are actively working to be divisive in the local area at the detriment of all residents within the ward in direct conflict of all other local Political Parties across the spectrum.

The Motion was voted on unanimously and upheld 09/03/2020  by residents and is set to be reviewed every 6 months. Liberal Democrats will be held liable for £10 per transgression. NMQ is private property owned by residents. The fee will be an hourly rate for dealing with transgressions of the motion upheld by residents with any proceeds to go to the Residents Association to be used how residents see fit. Time will be billed to the party or individuals. If invoices are not paid we will pursue legal action. Councillors appear to be working against the code of conduct by acting without honesty and against the wellbeing of residents due to conflict of interests, bias and political motivations either through design, negligence or otherwise unknown motivations.

(This motion was voted on again on the 30/09/2020 and upheld. It will remain in place for a further 6 months)

Since the establishment of New Mill Quarter (NMQ) and more formally its Residents Association, local politics appears to have played a clear role in determining the fate of the estate. Since inception, Sutton Decentralised Energy Network Ltd (SDEN), wholly owned by Sutton Council and established by Sutton Liberal Democrats who have majority control of the Council has been flawed. Issues such as SDEN and Parking have caused great issues to not just the NMQ estate but also the surrounding area.

Local Liberal Democrat Councillors elected to represent all residents of their ward have demonstrated a clear conflict of interest by protecting the interests of a Private Limited company (SDEN) and that of their political interests over that of their residents. All local Liberal Democrats either refused to sign resident’s collective complaint against SDEN or ignored the request. This equally translated up to full council with Council party leaders sharing this refusal. At the same time, cross party support was achieved initially from the Labour party with their full letter of support and then directly from Conservative MP Elliot Colburn. Compounding this, local councillors, appearing to be led by Liberal Democrat Cllr Ben Andrews have been publishing and disseminating misinformation to residents through their Focus leaflet. Unfortunately, Liberal Democrat Cllr Ben Andrews who was present in the meeting with the MD of SDEN Amanda Cherrington, members of the NMQ RA Executive Committee and the councils pricing consultant Simon Woodward, wilfully published, and hand delivered information which he knew to be wrong. Liberal Democrat Cllr Ben Andrews was privy to the pricing consultant stating that the SDEN pricing did not operate as advertised. This demonstrates a clear conflict of interest and calls into question the ethics of local politics where the Liberal Democrats have chosen to advertise and advocate for a private limited company they themselves established.

Downstream of this, residents who were struggling with heating costs, some worried to turn their heating on, have suffered great stress at the hands of these publications. Whether without thought or an attempt to sway residents from Class Action against SDEN we are unsure, but the effects are the same. Families concerned to turn their heating on have been visibly upset by the wilful publication of misinformation and continue to feel the effects in their wallets.

In the private sector, wilful misrepresenation would not be tolerated, and we cannot understand why it is permitted in politics.

Similarly, local councillors through their Sutton Lib Dem website have chosen to publish information which incited residents to be angry against NMQ and MP Elliot Colburn over a parking survey designed to understand the issues at hand( http://www.suttonlibdems.org.uk/residents_slam_new_tory_mp_over_hackbridge_parking). This is a clear misrepresentation of events and demonstrates a callous disregard for residents of NMQ and the surrounding area. There are typically issues with new development in an area and local councillors should be working to prevent issues rather than being the cause of division themselves. There is no reason here we can see but gaining political capital over the Conservative party at a direct cost to resdients to cause the division that they have.

Due to this, there has been a substantial growth in online animosity between local area residents and NMQ, with local residents believing that NMQ is working against the area. With cross party support from both the left and the right it is unclear to residents why a centrist party would look to cause division if not for political capital. Due to this inflammation of local issues, multiple complaints and incidences have occurred with one local resident being referred to the police over concerns. The Liberal Democrats therefore appear to not be acting in the interest of residents, either NMQ or otherwise, but rather likely acting solely in self-interest to retain political power, safeguard income or protect SDEN. They appear to be actively being dishonest in their representation of events and working to cause division and upset either through design or negligence. Councillors have been made aware of profiteering from the PPA which is causing increased parking load but have failed to action anything causing further issues in the local area resorting only to political jibes. With clearly inflamed tensions concerning the introduction of PPA’s we cannot see the rationale behind this activity.

The New Mill Quarter Residents Association upholds the motion to block any party or entity that actively works with self-interests at heart against the betterment of the area. The New Mill Quarter Residents Association and more formally the Residents of NMQ at large offer their sincere thanks to The Carshalton and Wallington Labour Party and Chair Ahmad Wattoo for being the first to offer formal support. We also thank Conservative MP Elliot Colburn and Cllr Catherine Grey for their time spent at surgeries with residents and more recently with their meeting with members of the executive committee. We greatly appreciate the formal support of our issues by both the Labour Party and Conservative Party as a whole and their consistent work to uncover issues despite the negative attention from the Liberal Democrats. We thank an independent councillor, Nick Mattey who has no role in our ward yet has offered support to residents on an ongoing basis. We applaud the cross-party support for the plight of NMQ and Hackbridge in general and are keen to see a residents first solution absent of politics. We would also like to give special thanks to David Tchilingirian, Chair of BedZed Residents Association  who volunteered time to guide residents as to the establishment of a formal Residents Association at NMQ.

NMQ has subsequently voted unanimously to pursue SDEN by class action and will be pursuing this in due course.

The NMQ RA is represented by an executive committee of 4 residents democratically elected by residents. Motions require 100% approval to be tabled from the committee and a majority vote to be upheld by residents. All residents can table motions with appropriate support. The NMQ RA delivers minutes to all registered members through either our mailing list or website (www.newmillquarter.org).

The NMQ RA is actively working on several issues including securing compensation for delayed residents. To date we have had a hand in securing over £9,000 for residents. All Executive Committee members are volunteers and secure no money or funding from the RA. The expenses of the RA have been personally funded by residents to date with time volunteered from the committee and residents. We have meetings for all residents which are opened to local individuals who have an impact on the area. We work closely with the Hackbridge and Beddington Corner Development Group to find solutions and improvements for the area for the betterment of all residents. All votes are placed at Residents Meetings and then offered out to non-attendees online to ensure transparency and engagement.

Lastly, we welcome the opportunity to work with local Liberal Democrat councillors and Liberal Democrats as a whole once they remove their conflict of interest on SDEN and dedicate themselves to working with the best interests of all residents at heart. We remain open to continued meetings with members of all political denominations, local businesses and residents. We recognise that Local Councillors have organised meetings with SDEN, offered to discuss parking but are aware that actions speak louder than words and reserve the right to act in the best interest of the area should it become clear, as it has, that we or others are being manipulated or lied to. We maintain that if publicly disseminated information is contrary to discussions as so far appears to be the case we will keep this policy in place. Transparency, honesty and residents first is how politics should be operated, not with a sole focus on political gain and protecting private companies. We continue to work towards seeing right done in our ward and the surrounding area, stripping bias and conflicts of interests where we find them and are currently working on several charitable ventures most notably with St Helier’s Children Ward and Sutton Night Watch Homeless Charity.

We encourage other affected parties to do the same and reject conflict of interests.