Council Failings and Unanswered Questions
Why is the Council still withholding information?
Dear Friend,
It is almost the end of the road for us and we are handing over the reins to you to hold the Council to account to maintain the field as a community resource. We are expecting to hear soon from Companies House about the striking off from the register of Pensford Field Environmental Trust Ltd after which the Trust will cease to exist.
In our email dated 30 January 2026, we explained how the Council had failed to deliver its promises on community access in the new lease granted to Dose of Nature. One of our members wrote to Cllr Gareth Roberts on 28 January 2026 demanding that the lease be changed and explaining why it was deficient - you can read an extract of the lease for yourself at the end of his letter. There has been no reply but the Spring Lib-Dem newsletter carries the headline “Pensford Field remains a community asset for all.” This claim is highly questionable - but we live in an era when assertions trump facts.
The Council is still withholding information about how the decision was made to terminate our lease. A request was made by us in November 2024 for communications to and from four named councillors and officers - the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) ordered disclosure of internal communications on 9 January 2026 on the grounds of public interest and we received documents from the Council on 12 February 2026. The ICO then investigated why the Council had not included an email from Cllr Piers Allen dated 5 September 2024 in the bundle and was given an explanation that the Council was interpreting “from and to” as “between” the named individuals. This is at odds with the ICO’s own interpretation but frustratingly, it has no powers on issues raised after their decision. Our only remedy is to go to a Tribunal with yet further delays. However, the ICO has logged the Council’s stance on their intelligence tracker for Richmond Council which may help others in the future.
So what have we discovered from the information recently provided? Probably the most surprising email is one from an official dated 30 July 2024 which says
“X just confirmed that we have tried unsuccessfully to broker a compromise between the parties. Apparently there is tension between the parties and PEST (sic) threatened to stop hiring the premises to DoN altogether. X’s judgement is there is very little chance of reaching an amicable solution.”
This statement is simply incorrect - we have no idea who X is but s/he never approached us. We had not heard a whisper from the Council since 26 May 2023 when Cllr Vollum told us “The council has no grounds to prematurely end the lease with Pensford Field.” We had certainly never threatened to stop hiring the premises to Dose of Nature altogether.
Subsequently this erroneous statement was used in communications between officers and councillors including the email from Cllr Piers Allen dated 5 September which embellishes it further “PET (sic) have been given many opportunities to change their stance to working with DoN, including the involvement of Kew Ward Councillors, so I am afraid it is their intransigence that has led to this course of action.” Someone, probably a councillor, did ask for information on 19 September about the Council’s dealings with us and whether there were notes of the meeting - the Council says that no written reply was ever provided. We had by this time told the Council that no one had been in touch but nevertheless they served the lease termination the next day.
Well I doubt that anyone in the Council will check how these erroneous statement arose. After all, it took over 16 months and an Information Commissioner decision to find they existed. All too late now for us but it does beg a number of questions which I am sure some of you will wish to pose to any candidates knocking on your door in the next few weeks ahead of the May local elections.
As for Pensford Field, we wish it well. Dose of Nature have laid a lot of bark chippings and built a number of dry fences so it remains to be seen whether it will apply a sufficiently light human touch so as be regarded as a wild field. Sadly very little sign of frog spawn or tadpoles this year and there are no bees in the hives as a result of the wet and cold weather.
Goodbye from us and I hope you will not forget what an oasis of green calm in the heart of Kew was created by the community over the past third of a century. Thank you for all the contributions you made over the years in both time and donations.
Kind Regards
Sarah
Sarah Atkins
Chair Pensford Field Environmental Trust Ltd
