Rewriting history, for thirty pieces of silver ...

Residents of the Cremorne Estate recently had the latest newsletter from the Cremorne Residents Association drop through their letterboxes (and, as is now usual, most of the Residents Association Committee knew nothing about it - more on that to come).

In it the current Chair of the Residents Association, Mr. Ali Shah, claims that:

"There are no plans to demolish any part of the Cremorne Estate for the Cross Rail 2 project as previously circulated and can confirm that there were never any plans to do so." 

This is a lie.

Or perhaps Mr. Ali Shah would like to explain the document below?

It is the original TMO Board briefing that was leaked to residents in 2014. It let the cat out of the bag and told us what the Council were up to.

The TMO Board briefing is very clear:  

There was a plan to locate a Crossrail 2 station on the Cremorne Estate.  

It was a plan the Council dreamt up (as the briefing says: "at the request of RBKC Leader Councillor Nick Paget-Brown") and then put to TfL. 

It would have led to the demolition of most of the estate and its "regeneration".

The Grenfell Inquiry has confirmed what "regeneration" really means in Kensington and Chelsea.

It means moving people out of their homes, out of the borough, and leaving them there.

And that document is just one of many implicating the Council, Council officers and Councillors in a proposal that would have destroyed our community, our estate and blighted the local area. 

You only have to look through the posts on this site from 2014 and 2015 to confirm just how real the threat to the estate was. 

We are assured that Mr. Ali Shah knows this. Why then is he lying? 

Perhaps because the only reason Mr. Ali Shah is the Chair of the Residents Association is because the last election was fiddled in his favour by the Council's Resident Engagement team (and they appear to be planning to fiddle another election on the 1st of July). 

He is the Council's choice, not ours. 

Mr. Ali Shah now appears to be doing his master's bidding. He is trying to whitewash history in the Council's favour. To what nefarious ends and in return for what we do not know. But we can't think of a better way of trashing your credibility and confirming the accusations of being little more than a sycophant and a plant and not to be trusted.

In 2014 we were lucky. We had a Residents Association that would fight tooth and nail to defend the estate and save our homes. And they did.

In 2021 we are cursed. The Residents Association is led by a man who appears to be quite happy to lie and cheat and sell us all down the river for thirty pieces of silver.

And given what we know is coming our way - millions of pounds in major works that will be extremely disruptive and cost leaseholders tens of thousands of pounds that Mr. Ali Shah is clearly unwilling to scrutinise or challenge in any way - perhaps he will.

Save the Cremorne!