At a meeting on 25 June 2025 Richmond Council’s Finance, Policy and Resources Committee reached a final decision to grant a 10-year lease of Pensford Field Nature Reserve in Kew to the mental health charity Dose of Nature (DoN).

This apparently simple decision (and the report on which it is based) hides a complex wrangle, which dates back more than a year. It has led Sarah Olney, MP, to write to the Leader of the Council in December 2024 that “the Council’s reputation in Kew has been severely damaged by this debacle…..”.

EastSheenMatters has not addressed this issue previously, given that Pensford Field is outside the usual boundaries of Mortlake and East Sheen. It is the lack of democracy so prevalent in the Council that necessitates drawing it to attention. Lack of consultation over the Stag Brewery development was eventually admitted after the deal was done.

It is not possible in this blog to provide a full analysis of events but in short…… Pensford Field Environmental Trust (PFET) has had custodianship of Pensford Field Nature Reserve in Kew for 32 years. They were informed on 5 September 2024 that their current 21 year lease would be terminated two and a half years early. The Council’s plan was to grant a ten year lease to Dose of Nature (DoN), a mental health charity. PFET were not consulted.

Following a Freedom of Information request, PFET found that there had been an informal meeting on 14 March 2024 between the Leader of Richmond Council and DoN Trustees, including Sir Mark Rowley, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, at which the decision in favour of DoN was effectively taken. Sir Mark Rowley is of course responsible for the decision to remove police from Richmond and Bushy Parks.

Pensford Field Environmental Trust (PFET) held a lease which was originally set to expire in 2028, but the Council terminated it and it will now expire on 29 September 2025. It is reported that PFET intends to instruct lawyers to launch a judicial review.

Dose of Nature is a Richmond-based charity that provides nature-based therapy programmes to support mental health. The charity already has access to the site on three days a week. It intends to use the space to increase its client capacity from 300 to 500 people a year, an increase of around four individuals per week. Unanswered questions remain about increased footfall, potential loss of biodiversity, long term management of the site and the future of volunteer involvement.

In a letter to PFET on 23 September 2024, Cllr Gareth Roberts explained that the process for the transfer is due to the growing need for mental health provision across the country and in Richmond Borough.  “Had we been unable to find a permanent home for Dose of Nature, we would have risked losing them from the borough and our residents would have lost out on direct access to a much valued, and much respected, mental health therapeutic service.” 

PFET argue that consultation on the termination of its Pensford Field lease should have occurred through a proper committee as it considers the move a Key Decision under paragraph nine of the Council’s Scheme of Delegation. Cllr Roberts argued that the decision was urgent; doubt has now been cast on that.

See also Agenda and Decision of the FPR Committee on 25 June 2025. Due to allegations of bias against Cllr Roberts’ involvement with awarding a lease to DoN, which he denies, he removed himself as chair of the meeting for the Pensford Field agenda item on 25 June. But the reality is that the Council was never likely to overturn a decision made behind closed doors between two of the most powerful men in the borough.

There may be good reasons for the plans but the undemocratic methods used to achieve the objectives do not make for good reading.

See also the Richmond Council Watch series of videos on YouTube, which exhibit documentary evidence of what has happened, at

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUb2YNEEkCRvHdMTfRSxtx7FEmataBfrZ