Investigating the future of Highbury Hall in Moseley
Highbury Hall, the former home of Joseph Chamberlain, has fallen into £4 million of disrepair. Paul Bradley explores what lies ahead for the famous property that has been left to decay for 20 years.
THE world’s press would focus its attention on Highbury, in its heyday.
The 70-acre estate, which was perched on the edge of the city when it was built in 1880, was the family home of radical unionist Joseph Chamberlain.
From here he crafted speeches as the Chief Minister of the British Empire, warning South Africa in August 1899 about its behaviour ahead of the Boer War and arguing for tariff protection and building up of British industry to secure jobs for British workers in 1903.
It was the place where Joseph’s son, Neville, spent his childhood years before he became Lord Mayor of Birmingham and then Prime Minister in 1937.
But the future of this forgotten gem lies in the balance with some predicting that it could be demolished if immediate action is not taken.
Birmingham City Council is the sole trustee of the Highbury Hall Trust and has been accused of neglecting its upkeep.
Surveyors revealed that the property was leaking water through the roof and the electrics needed a substantial overhaul. They estimated it would cost a minimum of £3.85 million. Restoration work to return it to its Victorian glory days would cost more again.
Community groups and interested parties formed a coalition with the goal of making Highbury Hall a national landmark.
Leading them is Mary De Vere Taylor, great granddaughter of Joseph Chamberlain.
She has asked to become a trustee of the charity trust, thereby reinstating the Chamberlain family’s formal interest in the property.
Mrs Taylor, who grew up in Edgbaston but now lives in Devon, said: “It is vital that Joe’s legacy is honoured in the way it was intended. It’s not simply about restoring our ancestral home but continuing our family tradition of social reform and attempting to offer something important to the people in Birmingham.
“I think there is a great deal of untapped potential at Highbury. It could attract quite sizeable grants. My vision would be for Highbury to be a hustling and bustling interactive museum.”
But Mrs Taylor’s enthusiasm is tempered by her disillusionment regarding the management of her family’s former home.
She added: “I’m surprised and disappointed that the council have failed to engage with me in dialogue so far. But I am thrilled that so many people in Moseley care so much about Highbury’s future.”
While Highbury was being left to decay, Birmingham City Council, as sole trustee of Highbury Charity Trust, rented the buildings to itself as a local authority.
It then hired out the grounds for weddings, banquets and functions, pocketing the proceeds and putting them back into the local authority’s coffers.
The financial well-being of the trust has not been made public and nobody knows for sure what financial gains the council made from the charity.
But Coun John Alden, who chairs the Charities and Trusts sub committee, has estimated that the amount owed in back rent exceeds £2 million.
“There is a conflict of interest when it comes to running Highbury Hall,” said Tony Thapar, chief executive of the Moseley Community Development Trust.
Mr Thapar, a trained landscape architect, is calling for the council to change the way the charity is run and let more people have a say in its running.
“The governance needs to be improved which means setting up a new committee, a solid constitution and crucially getting Mary De Vere Taylor and the Chamberlain family involved again,” he said.
Cabinet member for leisure, sport and culture, Martin Mullaney, who is also a councillor for Moseley, has vowed to turn things around at Highbury by 2014.
He has devised a plan that seems to be a compromise between the current situation and the ideals of the Moseley coalition.
“The council can borrow £2 million to carry out repairs. But in return the council would want to rent the property for free so we can make the money back by hiring it out for weddings and functions.”
