Local Liberal Democrats will go to Parliament this Wednesday (14th January 2004) to try and prevent the Labour run Council changing the Alexandra Park and Palace Act so they can effectively sell Alexandra Palace to private developers. The Lib Dems, who have forced a debate on the controversial plans, will be represented in committee by Culture, Media and Sport spokesperson, Don Foster MP and Simon Hughes MP. The party is concerned that the local Labour Council is trying to push the Palace into private hands and effectively wipe out the Alexandra Palace and Park (APP) Charity and the original APP Act.

The plan by the Labour Council is to alter the current Act regarding the Palace which will allow the Board of Trustees to present a developer with an unfettered 125 year lease to the Palace and the area of the park near the Palace. Lib Dem spokesperson on Alexandra Palace, Cllr Bob Hare, believes that the reasoning behind the alterations does not stand up to scrutiny. He says that the Council is being pushed by a secret deal with its preferred developer, signed years ago, and that it has an immense conflict of interest between its own finances and those of the Palace, which is supposed to be an independent charitable trust. Cllr Hare is also concerned about the potential negative affect of the changes on the historic value of the Palace, which still contains the studios where the world’s television broadcasting began.

Cllr Hare says there are far better ways of managing the Palace and Park and that the market is now very different and far better opportunities exist. He adds that despite the depleted state of the building and its being run for years in a short-term fashion, the Trust is generating substantial amounts of money, sufficient to be able to choose commercial partners without losing the building. He also cautions that substantial financial risk and commitments remain with the Trust.

London Mayoral candidate Simon Hughes added his support to the Lib Dem group’s campaign when he visited the Palace on Saturday (10h January) underlining the importance of the Palace’s heritage, not just to Haringey but to all Londoners.

Cllr Hare is hoping that the Lib Dems in Parliament are able to block the Labour Council’s plans on Wednesday. This will make the Council look at alternative arrangements, such as broadening the trusteeship away from the Council’s exclusive and controversial control, with possible commercial partners on shorter-term leases. In the interests of all Londoners, all trustees, and not just the Labour ones should agree key issues. Lib Dems say that the Palace needs a board that is more in keeping with such a historic monument of national importance.

Cllr Bob Hare comments:

“We must fight the Council’s plans. Ally Pally is a landmark for Haringey and for London. To degrade it by handing its future to developers whose plans are so lacking in inspiration would be disgraceful and an extraordinary act of public robbery.

Lib Dem group leader, Cllr Neil Williams adds:

“The present state of the Palace reflects two decades of mismanagement by the Labour Council. Rather than work with interested parties who want to help increase profitability while maintaining its heritage the Council is trying to get rid of it at any cost. Their way forward is utterly lacking in either good sense or imagination.”