Cash pledged to restore historic hall’s gardens
AHISTORIC rhododendron garden at Birmingham’s Highbury Hall is to be restored as part of a wider programme of ‘essential’ works.
The 32-acre gardens are visited by more than 100,000 people a year, mainly from surrounding Moseley, Kings Heath and Stirchley.
But some areas have now become overgrown and inaccessible as well as dangerous, particularly when it rains.
The Chamberlain Highbury Trust (CHT), which manages the grounds including the grade II*-listed Highbury Hall, has now identified a £300,000 scheme of improvements which will take a year to complete.
The trust has raised £20,000 and this week Birmingham City Council agreed to matchfund £80,000, with the rest expected to be granted by Historic England and the National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF).
Cllr Mike Sharpe (Lab), who sits on the Trust and Charities committee, said: “Highbury Hall is one of the jewels in the city and whatever we can do to restore it back to how it was is money well spent.
“If we don’t help them do this it’s going to fall further and further into the mire”
Asked to justify the need for the works – and the match-funding – he said: “The public benefit will fundamentally be a much-improved public park.
“It’s well used and in the longer term it will be even better used because the house will be open to the public on a much grander scale than it currently is.
“In the meantime this will address some pretty serious public safety issues.
“Some areas, particularly when it rains, are dangerous and the longer it is left the worse it will be.”
Highbury is the former family home of famous Birmingham politician Joseph Chamberlain. It was gifted to the council following his death and held in trust since 1994.
Its main income comes from the rent paid by Civic Catering which hosts various functions such as weddings throughout the year.
The house and grounds have been placed on Historic England’s ‘at risk’ register.
Les Sparks, chairman of the Chamberlain Highbury Trust, described the situation as ‘somewhat of an embarrassment’ but said it was also ‘opportune to strike’ for making funding applications.
A fourth multi-million pound bid to the NLHF for the separate restoration, repair and redevelopment to Highbury Hall will be made next summer following three failed attempts.