Conservations claim they called off a meeting with Harrow Council over a land sale because they were not allowed to record the discussion.

The Harrow Conservation Forum has spent months battling with the council, begging it not to sell off the derelict Pear Wood Cottages, in Pear Wood Nature Reserve, and lease the adjoining Ten Acre Field.

The meeting last Thursday, called by Andrew Trehern, corporate director for place shaping, and Councillor Thaya Iddiakadar, portfolio holder for property and major contracts, was to ask forum members to give their “valued advice” about the land.

But Claire Abbott, a warden for Pear Wood, said she was stunned when she was told she would not be allowed to make an audio recording of the meeting.

She says that she was so incensed that she called the meeting off and walked out, alongside fellow forum members Carol Liss, Simon Braidman and Stephen Bolsover.

She said: “The objection was to us recording the meeting, but what on earth could be wrong with a record being kept? I had worked hard preparing for it and the council wasted our time. I was stunned.”

She said that Mr Trehern and Cllr Iddiakadar “refused point blank to co-operate.”

Mr Bolsover said: “What could be wrong with us voice recording the meeting? It’s hard to see any legitimate reason why they didn’t want it to be on tape.”

“Councillor Iddiakadar and Mr Trehern went outside for around eight minutes to discuss our request, but came back and said they couldn’t proceed if they wanted us to record the meeting.”

He added that the council was “sacrificing something very precious” in the negotiations to lease the land.

Mr Trehern said Cllr Iddiakadar and himself were keen to hear the forum's advice about Pear Wood and consider the objections that have been received. However, he was not prepared to let the group record the meeting without prior notice.

He said: “Before the meeting they asked for our discussions to be minuted and I was happy to arrange for a note taker to be there.

"But recording the meeting had not been discussed before and I was not prepared to meet on this basis.

“At this point, the forum representatives regrettably chose to leave the meeting rather than give their advice. We offered to meet again the following day, but this was not taken up.”