Council faces legal bid over garden centre closure

Many of the volunteers, who have learning disabilities, had worked at the garden centre for decades

A fundraiser has been launched to help take a west London council to court over its failure to decide whether a community garden centre should be given protected community status.

Friends of the Rural Activities Garden Centre (FRAGC), near Hayes, plans to pursue a judicial review over Hillingdon Council’s handling of an application to list the site as an Asset of Community Value (ACV).

The garden centre was popular among local residents, and was maintained by adults with learning disabilities.

Hillingdon Council said it would “consider formally listing the FRAGC as an ACV in January and this has been published publicly on the council’s forward plan”.

The centre was laid and landscaped by residents from the borough to provide horticultural therapy and until July sold plants grown there to local residents.

However, it was closed by Hillingdon Council in July 2025, citing running costs.

Councillor Sital Punja, deputy leader of Hillingdon Labour, said she was “truly saddened” that the Conservative-led council had so far “chosen to ignore” the ACV application.

She said the council’s deputy leader, Jonathan Bianco, told a September meeting that the FRAGC would have an answer within two weeks.

“Now a cash-strapped council, begging the Labour government to bail out their financial mismanagement, will end up in court because they cannot meet statutory deadlines for processing an application for Asset of Community Value,” she added.
FRAGC is hoping to raise an initial £9,750 to support judicial review proceedings against the council.

This is expected to include a request for a mandatory order requiring the council to decide on the ACV nominations submitted by FRAGC.

An ACV is a council designation that helps protect land or buildings important to a community by giving local groups time to prepare a bid if the site is put up for sale, although the owner is not required to sell.

However, campaigners have told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that Hillingdon Council has withheld relevant information needed to formulate a coherent financial plan to purchase the site.

The council told the LDRS in November that it has provided financial information to FRAGC.