Council hid legal dispute when it approved Putney Leisure Centre contract

Wandsworth Council changed the café at Putney Leisure Centre without telling residents, approved the change in a document it spent six months refusing to release, and signed the contract twelve days after Places Leisure had been formally warned it might have no legal right to remove the businesses already there.

A partial release of that document, forced by a freedom of information complaint, shows what the council kept from the public. The café reconfiguration appeared in the confidential annex as a named element of Places Leisure’s winning bid.

Places Leisure says the previous administration also knew about the plans to reduce the pool size; plans that were put on hold this week after a public outcry. Whether Cabinet was told about either, and what was written in the annex, will not be confirmed until the council releases the document in full.

The council holds further documents from that decision (officer reports, Cabinet briefings, correspondence between council officers and Places Leisure) that it is still refusing to release. Putney.news first asked for the information in November 2025 and pursued the information through an internal review. We have an active complaint with the Information Commissioner to find out what else the Council knew about the deal and when.

What Cabinet approved

Cabinet Paper 25-177, approved on 16 June 2025, awarded the contract to Places Leisure. The public version ran to 41 paragraphs. It contained no mention of the small businesses that had operated the cafés at Putney, Tooting, and Latchmere for nearly a decade. It contained no risk assessment. Its legal implications section stated, in a single clause, that new leases would be structured to remove business tenants’ right to stay, without explaining what that meant for anyone already trading in the buildings.

The detail was in the confidential annex, Paper 25-177A. The partial disclosure shows the proposed café reconfiguration at Putney listed as a named element of the winning bid. That is also where the financial figures and risk register were kept. The council refused to release it for six months. The partial disclosure last week still redacts all financial figures.

Cabinet was directed, in the public paper, to note the financial savings “as set out in the exempt part of the paper.” The exempt part is the part the public was not allowed to see.

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Twelve days

On 21 May 2025, Places Leisure closed The Kitchen at Putney without notice during an unannounced audit. Jeannine Angel, whose family had run the café since 2015, was told to shut immediately. She wrote to Places Leisure that same evening to say she had not agreed to close.

Her solicitors wrote seven days later, telling Places Leisure that the procedure used to remove Angel’s legal right to remain in the building may never have been properly completed, for either lease it had issued her or for the equivalent arrangements at Tooting and Latchmere. Rather than produce documents to disprove the claim, Places Leisure sent Angel a form asking her to sign away those rights retrospectively. It was the same form that should have been signed before her lease began. Her solicitor replied that requesting it now amounted to an admission it had never been properly obtained. Angel would not be signing it.

On 4 June 2025, Places Leisure’s legal team formally acknowledged the dispute and promised evidence in response. That evidence never arrived.

Twelve days later, Cabinet voted.

Nothing in the Cabinet paper mentioned any of this.

The pool

Residents discovered the plan to shorten Putney Leisure Centre’s 33-metre pool on 2 June 2026, nearly a year after the contract was signed. Cllr Ethan Brooks, the new Conservative Cabinet member for leisure, paused the plan within hours of residents finding out. No consultation had taken place.

Places Leisure has said the previous Labour administration was aware of the plans, including the pool reconfiguration. Whether that awareness extended to Cabinet, and what was written in the confidential Paper 25-177A about the pool, will not be known until the council releases the document in full. It has so far refused to do so.

What Cllr White said

Cllr Paul White was Cabinet Member for Environment when the contract was approved. He has not previously responded to questions from Putney.news about his role. This week he did.

White said he was aware that “a mutually agreeable settlement was being sought” over the cafés, and that no new café provider has yet been decided. He said he did not know the terms of the settlement reached in March 2026.

He did not say whether he knew about the legal dispute before the vote. Asked directly, he pointed to the joint statement issued when the businesses closed. That statement does not address the timing. Putney.news’ questions to White covered the café dispute. He was not asked about the pool.

White is now Labour’s environment shadow in opposition.

Wandsworth Council’s press office, Places Leisure, and Cllr Brooks did not respond to questions submitted three days ago, on Wednesday 10 June 2026.

The documents the council is keeping

The council’s FOI reviewer confirmed last week, on the record, that the council holds officer reports, Cabinet briefings prepared for Cllr White, and correspondence between council officers and Places Leisure discussing the café tenancies. All of it is withheld under a commercial interests exemption.

The contract has been running for twelve months. The businesses have closed. A settlement has been reached.

The documents the council is keeping are the ones that would show what Cabinet was told before it voted. Either Cabinet knew about the legal dispute and approved the contract anyway, or it did not know, because no one told it. The papers would also let us know if the previous administration agreed to the pool reduction from 33m to 25m, without informing or consulting residents. The council will not release them.

We asked the new Conservative councillor in charge, Cllr Brooks, whether he had seen the relevant documents and whether he would agree to release them. He did not respond.

A public building

Putney Leisure Centre is not Places Leisure’s building. It belongs to Wandsworth. Places Leisure manages it as the council’s agent, collecting income in the council’s name.

The decision to change its café and pool, and to remove the businesses that had traded there for years, was not an operational matter handled quietly by a contractor. They were approved by elected councillors, in a Cabinet vote, paid for through a public contract. Residents did not know, had no say and were not informed.

Each document the council has been forced to release has raised more questions over its conduct. The partial release of Paper 25-177A showed what the contract authorised. The question that remains is in the documents it is still refusing to show.

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Wandsworth Council
Putney.news submitted the following questions to Wandsworth Council on Wednesday 10 June 2026 (click/tap to reveal). It has not responded.

1. The public Cabinet paper approved a clause removing security of tenure from anyone already trading in the leisure centres. Why was there no explanation in that paper of what this meant for businesses already operating in those spaces?
2. Places Leisure’s legal team acknowledged the café dispute in writing on 4 June 2025. Cabinet approved the contract 12 days later. Do the withheld officer reports and Cabinet briefings contain any reference to that dispute — yes or no?
3. Why was no risk assessment prepared for a £24 million, 10-year contract?
4. Putney Leisure Centre is a publicly owned facility. The contract approved changes to its café and pool without any public consultation. Why were residents not consulted?
5. The £80,000 budget for the Dryburgh Hall Kitchen refurbishment was moved from 2024/25 to 2026/27. Why was it deferred?
6. Did the confidential settlement reached in March 2026 involve public money? If so, how much?

Wandsworth Council did not respond to questions submitted on Wednesday 10 June 2026.

Places Leisure
Putney.news submitted the following questions to Places Leisure on Wednesday 10 June 2026 (click/tap to reveal). It has not responded.

1. When did Places Leisure first become aware that the lease arrangements at Putney, Tooting, and Latchmere may not have validly excluded the café operators’ security of tenure?
2. Did Places Leisure tell Wandsworth Council about the legal challenge before Cabinet approved the contract on 16 June 2025?
3. The contract approved changes to the café and pool at Putney Leisure Centre – a publicly owned facility – without any public consultation. Does Places Leisure consider that residents should have been consulted?
4. Did the confidential settlement reached in March 2026 involve a payment to the operators? If so, was that payment made from income collected from publicly owned leisure facilities?

Cllr Paul White
Putney.news submitted the following questions to Councillor Paul White on Wednesday 10 June 2026. He was Cabinet Member for Environment when the contract was approved on 16 June 2025.

1. Before you approved the contract, were you aware that the café operators at Putney, Tooting, and Latchmere had already launched a legal challenge over their rights to remain in those spaces?
2. Were you briefed by officers on what the existing café operators’ legal position was before you approved the contract?
3. The contract contained a clause removing security of tenure from anyone trading in the leisure centres. Did you understand at the time what that meant for the businesses already operating there?
4. You told a public meeting in June 2025 that Putney would get a new café. At that point, were you aware that a legal dispute was already under way over the existing operator’s right to that space?

Councillor White responded on 11 June 2026. He said he was aware that “a mutually agreeable settlement was being sought” and that “there has been no new café provider decided as yet.” He did not answer whether he was aware of the legal challenge before the Cabinet vote on 16 June 2025.

Cllr Ethan Brooks
Putney.news submitted the following questions to Councillor Ethan Brooks on Wednesday 10 June 2026. Councillor Brooks holds the Cabinet brief for leisure in the new Conservative administration. He has not responded.

1. Have you reviewed the internal council briefings and officer reports from the June 2025 contract approval? If so, do you believe Cabinet was given enough information to make a properly informed decision?
2. The pool reconfiguration that you paused last week was approved as part of that same contract, without any public consultation. The café changes at Putney, Tooting, and Latchmere were approved the same way. Do you accept that residents should have been consulted before those decisions were made?
3. Putney.news has an active complaint with the Information Commissioner seeking the release of the withheld officer briefings from the June 2025 approval. Does the new administration support that disclosure?
4. Before any works at Putney Leisure Centre go ahead, will the new administration hold a public consultation on what has been approved under the contract?