END OF AN ERA FOR PENSFORD FIELD?

End of an era for Pensford Field?

Dear Friend,

The Council met for nearly three hours on 25 June and decided to award the lease of Pensford Field to Dose of Nature – as anticipated by the gentleman’s agreement made between the Chair of Dose of Nature, Sir Mark Rowley, and the Leader of the Council, Cllr Gareth Roberts in March 2024. The Leader and Deputy Leader of the Council recused themselves from the meeting for reasons explained below.

We had the opportunity to speak as did Dose of Nature and we were asked many questions – this may in some cases have been to demonstrate the lack of bias of councillors (probably on advice from their lawyers)  but Cllr Caroline Wren of the Green Party clearly had some concerns which she demonstrated by abstaining when it came to the vote.  Others also asked pertinent questions and as a result, minor changes were made to the recommendations so that schools will be able to use the field and toilets for free. 

Following the letter of 24 June 2025 from our solicitors, Russell Cooke, outlining the potential for apparent bias, the Leader recused himself from the meeting altogether as he was the source of many of the statements that the decision had already been made.  The Council does not accept that these statements amount to apparent bias but most are a matter of record so cannot be disputed.

During the meeting, the Deputy Leader, Cllr Jim Millard, made several statements about how his decision was not pre-determined and he genuinely had an open mind..   However, his prior public statements at the 4 March Council meeting were brought  to the attention of democratic services during the meeting and this led, we believe, to him recusing himself so we were left without the Leader and the Deputy Leader in the room.

On 4 March 2025, the Deputy Leader had made several statements at a Council meeting indicating that “there was unanimous support that it was the right decision in terms of supporting Dose of Nature to continue and expand their provision for mental health services in the borough.”  A bout of amnesia?     Over-enthusiasm to show lack of bias?

Anyway we will wait for the Council’s response to our solicitor’s letter on 8 July and we shall consider next steps.

If you haven’t yet viewed Part 6 of the Battle for Pensford Field made by independent film maker, Martin Baker, please do.

Next Work Day is Saturday 12 July from 10-12 noon. Please come to our Summer Party picnic on the afternoon of Saturday 19 July at 1.30pm. Follow this link for more details. We very much hope you can join us for what may be our

Kind Regards

Sarah

Sarah Atkins

Chair Pensford Field Environmental Trust Ltc