The Richmond Council handling of its takeover of Pensford Field was explored in EastSheenMatters during the summer, most recently at
The Trust which had operated the site for 30 years has now circulated a report on the current circumstances.
“We have recently collected awards from Green Flag and London in Bloom. In both cases, we received glowing reports notwithstanding the fact that we have not been able to plan for the future this year. The main suggestion from Green Flag was that we needed to signpost the field from the main gate – they visited shortly after the end of our lease so after we had had to take our sign down! From London in Bloom, we received a gold award and scored 181 points out for 200 – the report comments on the termination of our lease: “It is a sad note that the council has not considered the benefits of the community, and the period during which the community has cared for this site. Appalling.”
We now plan to apply to strike off the Trust in January 2026 after we have closed our bank account and drawn up our final accounts. We have already made donations to the following charities (the first three received just over £2700 and Habitats and Heritage received the amount they requested of £2000):
- Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, for its project: Planting for the Future: Kew’s Landscape Succession Plan (with a mention on their website)
- Barnes Common towards a role encouraging Lifelong Learning
- Holly Lodge for a planter outside their classroom in Richmond Park with a plaque commemorating our donation
- Habitats and Heritage for community volunteering days on Kew Road Ha-ha
We are also archiving our records. The British Museum is going to “sweep” our website and make it available in the future. We hope Richmond Museum will look after our electronic and physical records. It is truly heartbreaking to look back at all the efforts made before and after the millennium to raise funds for planting, for connecting utilities to the studio and for constructing the pond – not to mention the many hours spent drawing up planting plans and toiling in the field itself.
The Council has acted with total disrespect for the generations of people who have contributed their time and resources to create the field as it is today. But then, there was never any doubt that this plan would be carried through after the meetings between the Leader of the Council, Cllr Gareth Roberts and Sir Mark Rowley, the Chair of Dose of Nature and the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, back in March 2024 when the fate of the field was sealed behind closed doors. These meetings were followed by internal Council meetings in July 2024 but the papers and minutes of those meetings have still not been made public following Freedom of Information requests dating back to late 2024.
One supporter has secured a decision from the Information Commissioner’s Office requiring disclosure so we may get these documents in the New Year – unless the Council appeals! But why is the Council spending legal costs resisting disclosure? What is there to hide or protect? The Epstein Files have now been released but for some unknown reason the Council is twisting and turning at every step of the way to resist disclosure of the Pensford information. It is an astonishing waste of taxpayers’ money. There are several other Freedom of Information requests being dealt with by the Information Commissioner but the Council continues to drag its heels until, they hope, the wind blows over. Well, I think a number of us have longer memories than they bargained for and we won’t let this lie.
We do not know if the Council has yet entered into a lease with Dose of Nature – we were told in early October that signing was imminent. Dose of Nature have not yet changed their charitable objects to enable them to incur costs for conservation of the field or community activities (although they said at the Council Committee in June 2025 that a change had been submitted to the Charity Commission some time previously). We can not find anything on their website that encourages community or access by schools and nurseries.
Please do not forget to use the field as much as possible – it should remain open to the public. If you come across any elected representative, please do quiz them on why the Pensford information is being withheld and why taxpayers’ money is spent defending the indefensible. But also ask why the promises made about school and community usage have not yet been delivered. With your help, we will keep Pensford Field as a community resource.”
Whatever the merits of the decision to seek to bring about a change of use of the land in question, the handling of the matter by the Council causes real concern and should be subject to detailed scrutiny. Instead as the Trust argues above it appears that the Council continues to drag its heels until, they hope, the wind ‘blows over’.
What is recorded in the documents that they will not disclose? Sometimes one meets opposition to disclosure on the basis of ‘business sensitivity’. How can that be the case here?
Engagement in such drastic opposition in this case drives a debate that the withheld documents must contain something truly scurrilous.
