The future of Broomfield House: Back on the agenda?

Broomfield House: Where we are and how we got here.

Restoring Broomfield House after the series of five fires, the first in 1984, the last in 2019, has proved unaffordable. In 2013 The Heritage Lottery Fund rejected the joint Council-community bid for full restoration of the House. In retrospect, this was probably the best and last chance of saving the House for the public. However, beginning in 2014 the council-chaired Broomfield House Partnership Board (on which among others the Broomfield House Trust and Friends of Broomfield House were represented) examined a variety of alternative ways ahead. The Board last met in November 2018.

In March 2019 a Council-led workshop discussed the possibility of rebuilding the exterior of the house as it appeared at the time of purchase in 1902. This would restore the key visual heart of the listed park. Part of the funding for the initial stage would come from a small housing development in the listed stableyard, subject to Historic England’s approval. The Trust believed that once a structure was in place, and the confidence of other potential donors boosted it might then be possible to gradually restore key parts of the interior (Hall, oak staircase, and murals). The Trust funded the successful restoration of the Minerva Panel as evidence that this was possible

The council funded a proposal from The Regeneration Practice (TRP) intended to start the process off. The Broomfield House Trust and Friends of Broomfield Park representatives strongly supported the concept, at least as a starting point, but the Council rejected it in 2020. Information on the council’s consideration of the TRP proposal was only discovered through a Freedom of Information request.

Continuing with the policy of ad hoc meetings, the Trust was invited to a meeting on 15 November 2021 with Adrian Smallwood Head of Strategic Property Services and Dr Alix Slater of Alix Slater Consultancy & Training Ltd. (Dr Slater had been heavily involved in finalising the 2012 bid to the Lottery for a full rebuilding of Broomfield House).

Unfortunately, this meeting was exceedingly disheartening. In summary, Dr Slater said that the current National Lottery Heritage Fund “Expressions of Interest” statement and its priority outcomes which run up to 2024, meant that in her view the Broomfield House project does not score highly; new build and restoration is a lower priority, and the London/SE area is highly competitive, even though the Borough of Enfield is a priority for the NLHF.

The conclusion was that the House would be likely to be demolished and “memorialised” in some way, but that there was potential for securing funding for a restored stableyard and the Park. It was suggested that there could be a combination of housing in the Grade II listed stableyard with some undefined public use. What form “memorialisation” would take had not been decided and might be the subject of a public competition.

Inspite of request for a promised meeting to discuss their thinking, the Council have not responded to the Trust or Friends. Once again, as has happened on many occasions in the history of attempts to restore Broomfield House, the council has retreated from meeting with the Trust and Friends of Broomfield Park.

However, by 19 June, a Member’s Request from Palmers Green ward Councillor Chris James elicited this brief response, “Discussions with Historic England and the National Heritage Lottery Fund (NHLF) have been positive, and the Council is poised to submit an ‘Expression of Interest’ to the NHLF for improvements to the heritage parts of Broomfield Park which include proposals on the House ruins. An Expression of Interest (EOI) is the first of three stages in obtaining grant funds from the NHLF and is the gateway to knowing whether they are prepared in principle to support a project.

In the event that the Council is successful with its EOI then a Cabinet report will be forthcoming (estimated to be early 2023) for approval of outline proposals that will form the basis of a ‘Round 1’ grant application to the NHLF. In the interim there will be a programme of consultation with key stakeholders including Members and relevant local organisations such as the Broomfield House Trust and Friends of Broomfield Park amongst others.”

We are trying to find out what form this will take and in particular how the Broomfield House Trust and Friends of Broomfield Park, key stakeholders if anyone is, will be involved. Given the efforts the Trust and Friends have devoted to Broomfield House and Park over the years it is disappointing that Enfield appears to have side-lined both groups.

Gentlemen,

Re - Broomfield House, Broomfield Park, Palmers Green, London N13.

Several public consultations since the 1980’s to determine a viable future for Broomfield House have proven unsuccessful, from which most, or all of the suggestions offered have proved inadequate to ensure its long- term commercial viability.

It now appears that a fresh survey is being posted on behalf of Enfield Council, asking for individual public suggestions toward the same end.

As a result, it occurred to me that the current world ecological crisis offers a golden opportunity to give Broomfield House a noble new purpose. Given its rich history, and its beautiful, easily accessible, yet protected location, the entire site, after restoration, is ideally placed to be considered as a much needed Nature Conservation Centre, whilst maintaining its historic appearance and focal position in the park.

Its creation would essentially demand the relatively economical reconstruction of the outer shell of the building only, in order to preserve its visual image and historic ambience, whilst leaving its designers ‘carte blanche’ to create a fully equipped, purpose-dedicated interior, offering a public interpretive visitors’ information centre, designed to educate people about nature and the environment, with appropriate pro-active exhibitions, demonstrations, films, a possible library, research and public participation / observation facilities, and including an appropriate restaurant / refreshment area with sanitary facilities etc.

Once complete, such a project, in conjunction with the activities of the long-established Broomfield Conservatory, would generate great interest and objective work, and attract many public and professional visitors to the park, whilst serving the growing need for ecological management and regeneration.

The scope of a venture of this nature is enormous, and would, I believe, attract financial support from a considerable number of sympathetic sources, and if realised, would, in the not too distant future, elevate Palmers Green amongst the developing leaders in the ecological regeneration field, and bring much needed revenue for the district’s own regeneration.

May I therefore ask that you commend the above to the survey’s organisers, for their due consideration.

Sincerely,

Allan Curtis.