Heritage and Conservation

A new self-guided walk booklet will take you around 21 of Palmers Green's architectural and heritage highlights and reveal fascinating snippets about our local history. For instance, did you know about the time when three crowned heads of European states got together around a PG table?

At the next meeting of Enfield Council's Environment Forum, on Tuesday 25th April, councillors and other participants in the forum will be given a briefing about buildings, parks, conservation areas and other structures in the borough that are included in Historic England's Heritage at Risk Register for London and SE England.

To mark the 90th anniversary of the extension of the Piccadilly Line past Arnos Grove, Southgate District Civic Trust will be holding an open meeting on 14th January, where heritage officers from TfL will talk about the architectural features of the stations on this stretch of the Underground and about Southgate Station in particular.

The saga of Broomfield House rolls slowly on, but what kind of ending it is heading towards remains as obscure as ever. Enfield Council has begun the process of submitting a new bid for Lottery Heritage Fund money to be used in connection with the ruined mansion. But the council has given no hint of its proposals to the public and, despite decades of hard work, community groups have again been sidelined.

Friends of the Lakes Estate do important work promoting the conservation area and protecting it from damaging changes. They are currently looking for new people to join and bring fresh energy and ideas.

Oakwood Station's refurbished shelter gives 360 degree protection. Enfield Dispatch provides us with 360 degree coverage of our borough, but it too is in need of some help.

Last week the news was that PG will be losing one landmark - the Intimate Theatre. This week we can report the restoration of an old landmark, the turret on the Fox pub, complete with weathercock - or should that be 'weatherfox'?

To the 'huge disappointment' of the Theatres Trust, Enfield's planning committee last night gave the go-ahead for St Monica's church to demolish the Intimate Theatre. In a statement issued to the press today, the statutory body called the building in Green Lanes 'a rare example of a repertory theatre design from the inter-war period with a rich cultural history that cannot be replaced'.

Ahead of Tuesday's planning committee meeting, the statutory body set up to advise on the future of theatres in England has restated its opposition to demolition of the Intimate Theatre and has set out the reasons why it considers that facilities for theatre provision in the proposed replacement building are inadequate

The future of the Intimate Theatre will be discussed by Enfield's planning committee for the third time next week. A slightly revised application designed to satisfy demands for a theatre-type facility in the replacement building is on the agenda for the committee's meeting on Tuesday 8th March