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Friday 8th December 2000 saw Haringey Council publish a document setting out its intention to have the Alexandra Park & Palace Acts 1900 - 1985 revised resulting in the Trustees being empowered to lease the whole or part of the Palace and surrounding areas. This does not sound very dramatic but the results will be catastrophic. Below is a plan of the areas available for leasing, shaded in grey. These include the Palm Court and former banqueting rooms (adjacent to the Palm Court), the Victorian Theatre - in fact all the public areas of the Palace. And finally, the south-east wing containing the television studios.
Click on image for full size plan The studios were vacated in 1981, but had been occupied since 1936 by the BBC, and was the home of the world's first regular public high-definition television service. The Palace has previously received Grade II Historic Building status, but that only has powers to ensure the facade of the building remains intact, allowing for major internal alteration. A Grade One listing would prevent such radical alteration. The Palace Trustees have a preferred developer in the offing and are asking GB£5m for a lease of 125 years. The developers will be given a free hand to do what they see fit with the internal structure of the Palace. The developers have no intention of preserving the studios and are intending to site a nightclub in the studio wing. This may not seem of great importance to some of today's younger generation but, if allowed to proceed a major part of our heritage will be lost. The power to lease areas of Alexandra Palace combined with the requirement to achieve the "best rent" will effectively prevent most of the charities and local groups, that have an interest in Alexandra Palace, from continuning to do so. The Victorian theatre, the Willis organ (in the Great Hall), and the promenade (which affords some wonderful views over London) are all included in the proposed scheme. Even the old railway station (at the rear of Alexandra Palace), is included in the leasing proposal. Community use for the old station (CUFOS), the charity that manages this building, benefits many local groups and organisations. It is unlikely they would be able to afford a commercially competitive "best rent" and so yet another community project will be forced to close. As a result of this page the following have been send to the Charity Commission registering the objection to the Draft Parliamentary Scheme:
Television today has developed into the greatest means of mass communication the world has ever seen. And it all started here in the UK, at Alexandra Palace with the world's first public tv service. Alexandra Palace IS the first home of high-definition British Television (also the home of the world's first high-definition regular public television service); saw the first high-definition British colour television experiments; was the first home of BBC Television News; and the first home of the Open University. Finally, during the Second World War, Alexandra Palace and the television transmitters took an active role in the national defence of Great Britain with counter-measurers against electronic warfare. Surely, this brief list of achievments of the television studios alone, should be more than sufficient to ensure its exclusion from the hands of the developers and potential night-clubbers! As soon as the Charity Commission has made its decision details of the fate of Alexandra Palace (and the television studios) will be made available here . . . . watch this space! (If you are a member of the APTS web-site notification list then you will automatically receive details of the decision. If you would like to subscribe to the APTS mail group click here and register your details at the Update Notifications section). |
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