Liberal Democrat MP Sarah Olney has condemned Richmond Council's decision to end an environmental charity's lease at Pensford Field early.

After 32 years of custodianship of Pensford Field nature reserve in Kew, Pensford Field Environmental Trust (PFET) were informed on 5 September 2024 that their current 21 year lease would be terminated two and a half years early and transferred to Dose of Nature (DoN), a mental health charity, without any consultation.

The move from Richmond Council has been met with confusion from PFET, Kew residents and MP Sarah Olney.

Back in December 2024, Olney wrote to Leader of Richmond Council, Gareth Roberts, criticising the council's decision to terminate PFET's lease and raised concerns about the site's long-term future once DoN's proposed lease ends.

In the letter to Cllr Roberts, the Richmond Park MP wrote: "Although Dose of Nature may be able to maintain the site while it is the leaseholder, has the council given any thought to what will be done with Pensford Field when Dose of Nature leave?

"Richmond Council have a free and highly skilled resource in the Pensford Field Environmental Trust, however, once the lease is handed over, the trust will cease to exist.

"The volunteers who worked so hard to improve the site will be unlikely to return by the time Dose of Nature's lease ends and the Council will be left to foot the bill for the field's maintenance.

She continued: "The Council's reputation in Kew has been severely damaged by this debacle and I would urge you to take the concerns put forward by PFET extremely seriously.

"Work with them to establish if there is a middle ground that offers a solution for all parties and then do all you can to achieve this aim." 

Following a FoI (Freedom of Information) request from PFET on 12 September 2024, it found that Richmond Council informally decided to transfer PFET's lease of Pensford Field to DoN on 14 March 2024, then formally on 4 July 2024 during a Director's Board meeting.

Pensford Field Environmental Trust has held the lease at the site for 32 years (credit: PFET).

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. 

He said: "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." 

More recently during a full council meeting on 3 December 2024, one person asked: "What evidence has Mr Roberts got that Dose of Nature would in fact have left, if they didn't get the lease?"

During that meeting, Cllr Roberts replied: "We were informed by Dose of Nature that they would have to transfer their headquarters out of the borough were they not able to acquire a permanent home."

In addition, 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.

Via the council website, a Key Decision is defined as: "A decision which is likely to result in significant expenditure or savings of over £500,000 or a decision which is likely to be significant in terms of its effects on communities living or working in two or more Wards."

However, Cllr Roberts believes that transferring the lease to DoN does not meet either of the two criteria.

He further explained in an email to Richmond Council Watch: "I would suggest that while individual residents living in the 18 wards may access the services of Dose of Nature, it would be difficult to determine to what extent those individuals would constitute a 'community' or 'communities' of service users, therefore I don't accept the premise of your position."

PFET confirm that Olney has not yet received a reply to her letter, but that it has been invited to a meeting with Cllr Roberts on Friday, 7 February 2025.

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