Broomfield House Palmers Green 

The 2010 proposal by Enfield council to restore Broomfield House, N13

Our local Enfield Southgate MP, David Burrowes summarised the latest position about Broomfield House in this post May 2010 election interview..

To see a transcript of David Burrowes update on Broomfield House click here

See the Statement issued on 26th November 2009 by The Enfield Southgate Conservatives Website

The council has received the £500,000 as David explained and with that they have submitted a proposal to restore Broomfield house with an integral Café and small meeting room. In addition the scheme proposed will accomodate a number of apartments in the nearby workshop areas. The current park buildings will be converted into sheltered accomodation making up a total of 20 units in the scheme.

Before the council put forward the scheme they commissioned a report from a heritage consultancy firm to see if the building was worth saving. The Paul Drury Parnership compiled an extensive report (You can read it here) - and it concluded it was. They then reviewed the options for Broomfield House in another report by The Paul Drury Partnership (You can read this here) . This occurred in July 2009.

While the council considered its options, another funding opportunity arose for sheltered housing by the Mayor of Londons office.

The council had to outline a scheme to get the funding and this was submitted to the Mayors office in early 2010 . A copy is available of the proposal from the Enfield Council website here.

In essence the Council used its own money to submit an outline application to develop Broomfield House and the adjacent buildings for sheltered accomodation use without any input from other interested parties. This outline was approved by the Mayors office and now the council has £500,000 to flesh out the submission into a feasable plan, with the backing, it hopes of the local population and interested groups. This full proposal has to be agreed and submitted by March 2011.

The Council has appointed a communications company, Green Issues Communications to co-ordinate the feedback and objections of local residents and interested parties.

It is interesting to note that the council did not consult local interested parties nor invite comments during the early stage and only published details of the scheme on 5 November 2010.