'Unlocking' and 'reconnecting' Broomfield House and Park

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interior of broomfield house june 2023A glimpse behind the fencing: part of the interior of the ruined Broomfield House (photo by David March - for more pictures see this Facebook post)

Enfield Council is inviting local people to help develop ideas for improving Broomfield Park and "memorialising" Broomfield House ahead of submitting an application for lottery funding in August.

The public consultation, entitled "Unlocking Broomfield Park for the Community", is being held online with a deadline of Sunday 6th August.

The initial funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund would be used "to resolve on a shared vision for the house and landscape around it in consultation with the local community and determine the project costs, required resources, and timeline for its delivery".

If successful, the council envisage a further application for funding in 2025 and a start to work on the remains of the fire-devastated mansion in 2026. This would involve dismantling the unsafe parts of the derelict shell and "reconnecting the park and house through memoralisation, interpretation and landscaping". See below for the full text of an update posted to the council website.

"A possibility that elements of the house's fabric could be retained"

Commenting on the news, the chairman of the Broomfield House Trust, Colin Younger, said:

"The intention is to restore the relationship of Broomfield House to the historic park and to the archaeological and horticultural heritage of the Baroque gardens.

"There is therefore a possibility that elements of the house's fabric could be retained, giving some sense of the size and position of the original house, incorporated into a whole designed to give the viewer a feel for the House's significance in the park."

Inside the ruins of Broomfield House

The video footage below was recorded in 2017. Yet another fire occurred in 2018, further damaging the house remains.

Broomfield House: Latest news

We are currently preparing a grant funding application to the National Lottery Heritage Fund for improvements to the heritage parts of Broomfield Park which includes proposals on the House ruins.

If successful in obtaining funding, this project will kick-start the rejuvenation of Broomfield Park by dismantling the unsafe parts of the derelict shell of Broomfield House, and reconnecting the park and house through memoralisation, interpretation and landscaping.

This application is due to be submitted in August 2023 and we will be notified by the National Lottery Heritage Fund of whether our bid has been successful in the first quarter of 2024.

If successful, we will receive an initial award to resolve on a shared vision for the house and landscape around it in consultation with the local community and determine the project costs, required resources, and timeline for its delivery.

To secure funding to implement the works to the house and park necessary to deliver this vision, another funding application will be made to the National Lottery Heritage Fund in 2025. If that final stage is successful, works to the house would commence in 2026.

In the lead-up to submitting a bid, we are testing some initial ideas and a programme of activities with residents and park users. We would welcome your ideas and feedback by completing a short survey by Sunday August 6 2023.

Complete the 'Unlocking Broomfield Park for the Community' survey.

Source: www.enfield.gov.uk/services/planning/broomfield-house#latest-news

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Posts in discussion: 'Unlocking' and 'reconnecting' Broomfield House and Park
Darren Edgar posted a reply
#6896
13 Jul 2023 09:04
As sad as it is, the House is now beyond saving, there isn't money for it and every feasbility assessment has failed. Just needs to be torn down, made safe and memorialised now.
PGC Webmaster posted a reply
#6907
21 Jul 2023 15:17
File Attachment:


An update from the council on their plans for Broomfield House:

"Enfield Council are planning to apply for funding to the National Lottery Heritage Fund for improvements to Broomfield Park and House.

"We are testing some initial ideas and a programme of activities with residents and park users. We would welcome your initial feedback and ideas - these will be developed during 2024 if we are successful in obtaining funding. Please complete this online survey no later than 6th August to provide us with your comments."

Click here to go to the survey
Geoffrey Kemball-Cook posted a reply
#6913
27 Jul 2023 09:15
The survey mentioned is only really about the Park. It does not give people the opportunity to choose or suggest options for Broomfield House. As it is, it is unfit for the purpose of discussing the future of the House.
Adrian Day posted a reply
#6917
31 Jul 2023 17:12
True - the future of the house has been already decided following years of consultation, surveys, suggestions and failed funding approaches.
Colin Younger posted a reply
#6920
03 Aug 2023 09:20
I think that there is a little misunderstanding about this this survey. It is a very preliminary, necessary, step as part of the first phase of the bid to the National Lottery Heritage Fund. It's intended to demonstrate local views about the value of the park. More detailed consultation about the form of landscaping of the site of the house, some of the area around the lakes and the "memorialisation" of the house will following if the initial bid is successful.
Darren Edgar posted a reply
#6925
04 Aug 2023 17:03
local views need to include those that are just sick of it then and would rather we stopped funnelling cash into something long since doomed.
Colin Younger posted a reply
#6927
04 Aug 2023 17:43
Don't worry, there is no proposal to rebuild Broomfield House. Years of neglect and four fires have finally sealed its fate. The focus is on landscaping the site of the house and two of the lakes, to bring back the features of the baroque water gardens. Work on the third lake, the swimming lake, would be too expensive for it to be included in this bid. There will be consultation on all this and on how the house might be memorialised if the initial bid to the National Lottery Heritage Funding is successful.
Allan Curtis posted a reply
#7003
10 Nov 2023 08:42
Dear Sirs,                                                                                       NOVEMBER 2023

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 pubic interpretive visitors’ information centre, designed to educate people about nature and the environment, with appropriate pro-active exhibitions, demonstrations and films, possible 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.
 
 
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