Trustees make formal complaint to the Council
No honey this year - the bees and other wildlife need our help more than ever!
Complaint to Richmond Council about decision to terminate early the lease of Pensford Field
Here is a link to a complaint submitted to Richmond Council on 16 October 2024 by the Trustees of Pensford Field. This is the step that must be taken before a referral to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman. Obviously we hope the Council will respond positively to our demand to consult over the future of the field rather than just terminating our lease 3 years prematurely and awarding a new lease to a mental health charity.
The following is a summary of why this decision should be reversed:
a proper consultation exercise was not conducted;
the decision was based on misleading information with no verification of the facts;
the Council is attempting to reverse engineer the adverse impacts of its decision in a sub-optimal manner through the new lease;
conservation is meant to be at the heart of the Council’s decision-making but did not feature in any way whatsoever;
the Council is in breach of the Local Government Act 1972 to obtain best consideration and has not to date advertised the disposal of open land in accordance with the Act;
the Council was in breach of its own Compact with the voluntary sector;
the Council has not been transparent about potential developments on the site, why the current arrangements could not continue and how the difficult issues raised in this complaint are to be managed effectively.
The Council has also failed to respond to the FOI request within 20 days and should respond forthwith.
In the light of the above, is the Leader of the Council (who on his own admission at the Council meeting of the 1 October is “not often wrong” but was prepared to admit to a mistake) prepared to acknowledge that this the lack of consultation was such a serious omission that the Council needs to go back to basics and carry out a proper and meaningful consultation?
We will not accept a bland reiteration of the Council Leader’s apology that the Council didn’t consult with PFET before the decision was made. We expect a timely line by line reply to all the issues raised above and for it to be openly shared with all the stakeholders – the residents of the Borough and PFET on behalf of the wildlife. If this is not forthcoming, we will refer this matter to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.
Whatever happened to good governance and transparency? When was the environment and conservation considered? When did consultation become a waste of time? We are looking forward to the reply.
The links to the documents referred to in the complaint are below.
1. Richmond Council’s Equality Impact and Needs Analysis (“EINA”) dated 4 July 2024;
3. Letter from the Leader to PFET dated 23 September 2024;
4. Letter from PFET to the Leader dated 28 September 2024;
5. Transcript of Richmond Council meeting on 1 October 2024;
6. Summary of current usage of Pensford Field by schools, children’s nurseries and Dose of Nature;
7. Summary of talks and events held at Pensford Field in 2024;
8. Notice of Termination dated 20 September 2024 requiring vacant possession on 29 September 2025.
9. Compact Statement Richmond upon Thames
10. Richmond Climate Emergency Strategy
