Birmingham councillor vows to resist plans to sell off part of Joseph Chamberlain's estate at Highbury Hall
Feb 12 2009 by Paul Dale, Birmingham Mail
THE politician heading the trust which runs Highbury Hall said controversial plans to sell part of Joseph Chamberlain’s historic estate will only go through “over my dead body”.
John Alden vowed to resist attempts by Birmingham City Council to dispose of Park Lodge, the original entrance to the Victorian estate, and Chamberlain House, a 1940s building currently used as social services offices.
A new trust deed for Highbury, agreed with the Charities Commission, allows Chamberlain House, Park Lodge, some homes and land to be sold.
It is the first time since the land was handed by the Chamberlain family to the council in 1932 that the trustees have been given permission to sell part of the 31-acre estate.
The wording in the document prompted conservation groups, led by the Moseley Development Trust, to campaign to keep the Highbury estate intact.
But Coun Alden (Con, Harborne) said no disposals would take place while he was chairman of the council’s trusts and charities sub-committee.
He added that permission to sell land and property was included in the trust deed at the insistence of the Charities Commission.
Coun Alden added: “The Charities Commission presented a modern trust deed for us to agree and that includes a clause to sell land if we want to. I have made it plain that I and my co-trustees have no intention of selling any land.
“We have written to the commission accepting their ideas for modernising the trust deed. But we aren’t going to sell anything at all.
“A sale would only happen over my dead body.”
He is working on plans to renovate Highbury Hall with the proceeds of a £2.5 million council payment for back rent.
Coun Alden said he hoped parts of the hall currently closed to the public, including the former servants’ quarters, could be restored and that the building could be turned into an “educational resource” to help children learn about Birmingham history.
