Twelve questions about the Mad Bess Cottage sale, and no answers before objections close

Since the September notices appeared for the sale of four acres of Green Belt at Mad Bess Cottage, we have asked ward councillors, a Cabinet member and Council officers, including the Disposal Surveyor, Tom Prevezer, whose name is on the notice. None of them has given us a substantive reply.

We put twelve questions to the Council and asked for answers by 13 October. The Council’s reply is that they “will be considered alongside all other responses once the consultation has closed.” That is after the 22 October deadline for objections!

You can still object until 5pm on Thursday 22 October using our form.

Three replies from Cllr Denys

Cllr Nick Denys, the Cabinet Member for Planning, Housing & Property, has replied three times.

• 1 October: “Those who have submitted questions to the consultation will get the official Council answer on this and other points raised.”
• 6 October, to the RRA committee, within the hour: “Your points and questions will be considered alongside all other responses once the consultation has closed.”
• 10 October, to us: “please submit them to the consultation and they will be considered once the consultation has been closed.” He added: “Answering questions/points ad hoc while a consultation is running is a messy way to operate.”

Considering a question is not answering it, and he has not said that anyone will be told anything.

In fairness, he replied promptly, and on 10 October he did answer our questions about process. Objections go to the address on the notice. The Council will “consider all comments, wherever they come from.” Objectors may copy the Secretary of State, though there is “no obligation” to. He did not say whether the Council will pass objections on itself.

Answers after the deadline are no use to anyone

Residents have until 22 October to decide whether to object, and what to say. An answer that arrives afterwards cannot help with that. Several of our questions are plain facts about things that have already happened, such as the outcome of the February notice. They do not need to wait for the consultation to close.

Our twelve questions

We sent our first questions on 28 and 29 September, and put the twelve numbered questions to the Cabinet Member on 6 October.

1. Is all of the 4 acres sold in one transaction with the cottage, or is the cottage one sale and the rest another? (We are not asking for a name.)
2. What has changed since the proposal to dispose of 0.3 acres?
3. Will the sale include a restrictive covenant preventing non-agricultural buildings?
4. What was the outcome of the February consultation, and how many objections were received?
5. Did the Council apply to the Secretary of State for consent under the 1938 Green Belt Act? If so, when, and was consent granted?
6. Will it seek further consent to extend the sale to 4 acres?
7. Will objections be passed to the Secretary of State, or should residents write to the Secretary of State? If so, where?
8. Is the locked gate across byway R104 authorised?
9. Will R104 stay open to all traffic after a sale, and could it ever be closed?
10. Who would maintain the byway and the gate after a sale?
11. Is the badger hide inside the 4 acres, or reached across it? Will access be guaranteed?
12. Has any ecological assessment been carried out?

The Council’s own promises

The Council’s new Cabinet Priorities 2026–2030 went to Cabinet on 17 September, the day after the September notice.  They promise “Giving you clear, and accessible information“, “Responding to you quickly when you need us” and “Listening to your views to shape what we do.”

Hillingdon’s Council Priorities for 2026-2030

The Cabinet report adds that “future decision reports will also identify how proposals contribute to the priorities where relevant.” So which priority does selling four acres of Green Belt for a larger garden serve?

We are asking the Council to answer some simple factual questions before residents must decide whether to object, or to extend the deadline if it cannot.

Read the next Mad Bess Cottage article:

Ruislip Woods nature reserve’s buffer zone: what we know about the Mad Bess Cottage field