The Westway Trust pulled out of a meeting with a group set up to challenge its policies after questioning the “intentions” of those attending.

The charity, which is tasked with looking after the 23 acres of land below the A40 motorway in Ladbroke Grove and Notting Hill, had agreed to attend a Westway23 meeting on November 11.

But organisers say they were told that directors and trustees would not attend as the Trust “must look after the wellbeing of our staff”.

The meeting went ahead as planned at The Tabernacle community arts centre in Powis Square and was attended by around 300 people.

Trust chief executive Angela McConville said she is instead looking forward to meeting a small group which represents the views of Westway23.

But Toby Laurent Belson, who helped organise the meeting said the Trust was employing “divide and rule” tactics.

And a Westway Trust board member who did attend accused the charity of “disconnect with the community”.

Ms McConville said she had originally been pleased to “engage in open dialogue with a passionate and committed group that represents a diverse spread of views”.

Writing on a Westway Trust blog about the decision, she said: “What started as a proposed discrete group has become a rallying call for an open meeting, and we have been advised that the audience is likely to be over 200 people with no clear objectives of what we can achieve.

“It is almost impossible to hold 200 conversations at once. Plus, because of the way it’s been publicised we cannot guarantee that everyone will be from the local area and some may not have good intentions.”

She said “inflammatory language” on social media such as “resistance”, “fight-back” and “lives lost” had also given her “little assurance that all those attending will have good intentions”.

“Without any assurance that those attending want constructive dialogue, it makes it very difficult for me to believe either party will get anything meaningful from the meeting,” she continued, adding: “We do not feel comfortable proceeding with the meeting, as currently proposed.”

Mr Laurent Belson says he has “deeply offended” by the situation. He said: “They said they were ‘not comfortable coming to the meeting and said I’m sure you can understand that we must look after the well being of our staff’.

“It suggests that there is the likelihood of threat to their wellbeing. I’m insulted that this kind of language is being used. What does it say about me that opened this dialogue?

“To say that about a meeting I am heavily involved in is deeply insulting.”

He also dismissed the Trust’s approach: “It’s a classic top-down approach, divide and rule. They only want to meet with small groups at a time, they don’t want to meet with large section of the community that have valuable concerns.

“This meeting was about them finally coming around to a new way of thinking and doing business with the community and representing the community and fulfilling role with the community.

“That’s why we are doing what we are doing, we see huge holes in their ideology of how they work with the community.

Pat Mason is a Labour councillor representing the Golborne Ward and sits on the Westway Trust’s board. He said: “It is locked into the belief that local people should be commenting on and suggesting improvements to the Trust’s proposals and strategies, rather than accepting that local people do not support what they are doing and have a completely different vision for their area.

“So any kind of strongly-voiced opposition to what is being proposed is experienced as unpalatable by trust directors who say they shouldn’t have to put up with abuse when they are at work.”