Despite stewarding the Pensford Field nature reserve in Kew for over three decades, the Pensford Field Environmental Trust (PFET) have heard that Richmond Council still plans to terminate PFET’s current lease two and a half years early without fault or consultation.
Council leader Gareth Roberts intends to transfer the site’s lease to Dose of Nature (DoN), a mental health charity chaired by Met Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley.
Alongside concerned residents and PFET volunteers, opposition leader Cllr Andrée Frieze raised the matter at a Full Council meeting back in October.
Cllr Roberts replied: “These are parts of the castle not normally shown to guests, ladies and gentlemen… sometimes we have to act quickly in order to stop much valued provision from leaving. And if we had our time over again, would I have changed it? Yes, of course. It was a mistake.”
Freedom of Information (FoI) requests by residents have since revealed that a meeting took place on 14 March 2024 between Cllr Roberts and Sir Mark Rowley, at which Cllr Roberts agreed to transfer the lease to Dose of Nature, of which Sir Mark is a trustee.
It remains unclear whether the Council has formally decided to make the transfer despite having informed PFET volunteers they had already done so.
Deputy leader of the opposition Cllr Chas Warlow has written to Cllr Roberts to ask:
- Why were no minutes taken at the meeting with Sir Mark Rowley and possibly other trustees of Dose of Nature (DoN) on 14 March 2024?
- Why was it so pressing to transfer the lease to DoN, rather than wait till it ended in March 2028?
- Why couldn’t a reasonable discussion have taken place between DoN and PFET to enable both parties to continue to use the Pensford Field and facilities?
- Why is this Administration refusing to disclose relevant information transparently and in a timely fashion?
- Why was this decision to terminate PFET’s lease made at the Directors Board level rather than at a Service Committee, given that it affects more than one ward?
- Why were the trustees of Pensford Field told that the decision to award the lease to DoN had already been made when it now appears not to have been formally taken?
- When will the decision to award the lease to DoN be formally taken, how will it be made, and which service committee will scrutinise it?
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