The talk by MESS Chair will be held at All Saints Church and will start at 7.30pm. Forty years ago almost to the day the GLC, who managed the South Circular, was abolished and the Government seized control of the road. Residents of Mortlake, East Sheen, Barnes and Kew dreaded what was going to happen next and MESS engaged in the battle, with the Chair in the vanguard.
The MESS AGM will follow the talk.
To ensure that this response is given full exposure the reply from Cllr Cambridge has been copied from Comments to a full posting. Slight editing has been done, solely to highlight separate issues, ie no content has been added or removed.
I am, as ever, happy to rebalance your narrative. See Edit Post “How to Help Thomson House: The End of a Bright Idea?” ‹ EastSheenMatters — WordPress
Thomson House, although part of a Trust and not under the Local Authority, is an incredibly precious and popular school.
I hear they want to look to move to the STAG Brewery site and the council has said, despite the school being leaseholders of 27 Sheen Lane, they are at total liberty to explore every option with the DfE and the Developers, There is no block whatsoever for this.
Regarding safety, the council has taken strides to help, including [making] Vernon Road [a] School Street, 20 mph [speed limits], Idling Action Days, a consultation on Idling Zones of which this area would be priority, new pedestrian markings on the crossing and a push for a countdown clock with SWR/Network Rail.
Coming up after May is a meeting I have facilitated between the school and Cllr Ehmann to connect the key people.
One plea, perhaps instead of playing politics with a much loved school’s concerns and issues, you come on-board with workable solutions to the safety of the site because it may be the DfE are not for funding a Primary School new build, having shown ambivalence to a Secondary School. It will be vital to continue to listen and act on safety concerns.
Editorial Comments
EastSheenMatters does not ‘play politics’; it merely seeks to draw to local public attention matters which might otherwise not be made public or adequately explored. But we leave readers to draw their own conclusions!
Safety concerns should certainly be in everyone’s minds, so if you have ideas beyond those raised above, send them to Cllr Cambridge – preferably with a copy to EastSheenMatters! But it does raise the question of whether, say, having buggies (or 1200 secondary students) make their way across the level crossing at rush hour times can ever be adequately safe.
One important difference, of course, between a primary school and a secondary school is the size of the footprint.
Will there be any response from Richmond Council?
PEST circulated this closing email over the weekend.
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 this wet and cold weather.
Goodbye from us and I hope you will not forget what an oasis of green calm was created by the community over the past third of a century.
Further to the report on this blog of the recent meeting of Richmond Council’s Education and Children’s Service’s Committee at which an idea was put forward about Thomson House School, here are the impressions of one reader, gleaned from the Council’s recording of the event.
The discussion can be seen and heard on the Council website at from minutes 3.45 to 45.
Watching the video of this meeting, it is striking that while Councillor Niki Crookdake has come up with a potential solution to the problem of the location of Thomson House School, none of the other committee members appeared to have any interest in exploring her plan or offering a word of encouragement.
There is no disagreement about the basic question: the location of Thomson House school in Sheen Lane is not ideal. In the words of Councillor Julia Cambridge, who was chairing the meeting: “I appreciate the school’s current split site model is very challenging to manage. Pupils lack outdoor space at one location, and the other location is by a railway crossing.”
Cllr. Crookdake’s idea – for which she is simply asking for a feasibility study – would involve relocating the school to the part of the Stag Brewery site which has already been deemed fit for a secondary school (which probably won’t ever be built) and, ingeniously, would be paid for by offering the Stag developers the chance to turn the existing school buildings into new affordable housing.
The rest of the councillors enjoyed acting like prosecuting barristers. Some raised arcane procedural points. Others competed to highlight details they were “curious” about or to wonder whether Cllr. Crookdake could produce documentary evidence to support this point or that. One even suggested that the problems of the current location are being solved by measures taken to reduce engine idling around the level crossing.
Cllr. Cambridge betrayed an implicit opposition to the plan in her remark to Cllr. Crookdake that “some of the information you have given is subjective and it is, you know, your opinion.”
Councillor Rob O’Carroll was disappointed that the Head Teacher and Chair of the school “couldn’t find the time” to come to the meeting and present their case in person. This gave Cllr. Crookdale a touché moment as she was able to assure him that they had wanted to come. She had requested it from “the monitoring officer and democratic services” but “I was told absolutely not”.
Councillor Michael Wilson was so enjoying interrogating the witness – “Is anybody holding a gun to the head of the head teacher…” – that Councillor Cambridge reminded him that “this is not Crown Court.”
Cllr. Crookdake maintained her temper throughout, concluding with the plea that “this is simply saying ‘can we not investigate this as an option?’,” but revealed her frustration by adding “and what I don’t understand is why there is such pushback against it when the whole premise is …just to improve the operation, the wellbeing and the safety of the pupils at this school. I don’t understand the resistance.”
Cllr. Cambridge pulled the rug from under her late in the session by telling her “this is not the right forum, not where a decision will be taken”, adding in an undertone, “if it indeed ever is.”
She concluded by what she called a “summing up”, which was clearly a prepared speech, rather than a summary of what had been said, some of which Cllr. Crookdake challenged on a couple of counts, which Cllr. Cambridge had the last word in refuting.
It is hard not to conclude that, whatever the merits of her idea, Cllr. Crookdake, who represents the Green Party for Mortlake and Barnes Common, was the only councillor present who was trying to achieve anything constructive. If her opponents had a different tone of voice, implying a willingness to look for positives or alternatives, they could have avoided giving the impression of simply enjoying themselves in trying to kill the plan.
Cllr. Crookdake presenting her proposal
[Contributed by Charles Miller]
East Sheen FC: One of Football’s Oldest Clubs Returns After 120 Years
One of the oldest football clubs in the country is set to return to East Sheen for the first time in over a century.
East Sheen FC, originally founded in 1873, was once a prominent part of early English football. Known as “The Sheenites”, the club competed in the FA Cup and won the Surrey Senior Cup in both 1885 and 1901. Among its players were Arthur and Percy Walters, two brothers who went on to captain England and were widely regarded as some of the finest full-backs of their era.
The club ceased to exist in 1906, becoming part of football history. Now, 120 years later, it is being brought back.
The revival is being led by Matthew Evans, a 23-year-old student at the University of Roehampton, alongside a small group of students and volunteers. Having discovered the club while researching historic teams, Evans has spent the past months working to formally re-establish East Sheen FC and bring organised football back to the local community.
“We’re not just starting a new club,” Evans said. “We’re bringing something back that used to belong to the area.”
The aim is to have men’s, women’s and youth teams in place for the upcoming season, forming the foundation of a sustainable community club in East Sheen. The project is currently being developed without external funding, relying instead on volunteers and local support.
At its core, the revival is about reconnecting East Sheen with its footballing past, while building something sustainable for the future.
Sarah Olney visited the Royal Ballet School last week. She reports:
“One change which has impacted the school is the removal of the dedicated parks police unit. The location of the school means it can take a while for forces to attend, and I was concerned to hear that students feel more vulnerable having lost the constant presence that the parks police team brought.
“Another matter which we discussed was the central funding provided to music and dance facilities. Performing arts are often seen by politicians as being one of the least important sectors to contribute funding towards, however, London is famous for its theatres and acting, and the sector does contribute towards our economy.
I was disappointed to hear that the communication the school has received from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, showed an attitude that those who choose to go into performing arts are normally already well-off, so funding support is less urgent. This attitude only entrenches class divides in performing arts, and a lack of funding support will prevent working or even middle-class families from supporting their children’s ambitions.”
Two weeks ago TFL contacted our local MP’s office to state that the 493 service will run every 15 minutes, instead of its current rate of every 12 minutes.
Sarah met with them and reports: “The 493 is the only public transport service that provides a direct link to Tooting St George’s Hospital. Despite this, TfL’s assessment did not take into account the route’s destination, as they claim as long as the service still runs, people can still get to the hospital. However, not only will this encourage people to drive to St George’s, it will also mean people are more likely to be late to their appointments, as with the cut in regularity comes the reduction of reliability.
During the meeting, I also requested for impact assessments to be taken on the consequent crampedness of the 337 and 33 services during peak hours in which students from Christ’s School commute to and from school.”
Friday 27 March 7pm
Evi Wang Trio
Violin, Clarinet and Piano
Tickets at the Door £15
The discussion can be seen and heard on the Council website at from minutes 3.45 to 45.
Cllr Crookdake’s statement on a ‘Ward Concern’ to the Education and Children’s Services Committee on 26 March 2026.
“Thomson House School governors are deeply concerned that the safety and wellbeing of pupils is being compromised by the school’s current location. When Thomson House opened in 2013 on a compromised site, governors were reassured by the council that the school would later relocate to the STAG site. However, in 2015, that plan changed. A secondary school was allocated to the site instead, without consultation. As a result, pupils are now being educated across two sites, with no dedicated outside play area, and with one site located next to a busy level crossing.
“No additional funding has been provided to cover the extra safety measures or the significant costs of operating a split-site school. Those duplicated costs are substantial. Thomson House runs two front offices, two kitchens, and three additional lunchtime teams of three supervisors each, on top of extra utilities, maintenance, and staffing pressures. This has a serious impact on the school’s budget.
The current accommodation also limits the school’s ability to support pupils with SEND and may even affect the school’s viability as a named provision.
It appears that there is some additional funding paid from the DfE.
“Its sports provision depends heavily on access to The Brewery site. Access is now uncertain, and any alternative would create further financial pressure. Meanwhile, pupils take playtimes on Mortlake Green, which is a public space.
“Many stakeholders, including the DFE and council have observed daily drop-off and pick-up arrangements, and there is wide agreement that the risks faced by pupils and families are simply unreasonable. I have circulated a video to members showing an unattended lorry rolling towards children and adults at the school gates. Had that happened only a few minutes earlier, the consequences could have been catastrophic.
“Thomson House did not choose to be in this position. It is the result of a council decision to replace a planned primary school site with a secondary school at STAG. There may now be an opportunity to return to the original plan if the DfE does not fund the secondary school. If that does not happen, then another solution must be found.
“I want to correct the record. In response to a written member question on 3 March, Council Leader, Gareth Roberts stated that the council does not own the school site by the level crossing. That is incorrect. The council does own the site and has leased it to Thomson House for 125 years.”
EastSheenMatters has received a complaint from Cllr Cambridge, who chaired the meeting, about the paragraph above (also quoted in yesterday’s post giving notice of the meeting). She refers to the written response. For clarification this is quoted in full below. Cllr Cambridge also herself during the meeting clarified the ownership position.
Continue readingCouncillor Crookdake (Mortlake and Barnes Common Ward) has given notice that at the Education and Children’s Services Committee meeting this evening she wishes to present a Ward Concern that Thomson House School governors are concerned that the safety and wellbeing of its pupils is being compromised by its current location.
There is history here. On 3 March 2026, Council Leader, Gareth Roberts stated that the Council does not own the THS site by the level crossing. It appears that this was misleading. The Council owns the site and has leased it to THS for 125 years.
Let’s hope we get a straightforward answer this evening.
More to follow tomorrow.
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