Save the Moseley Road Friends Institute

The Moseley Road Friends institute building is a valued and vital community asset, serving the local and wider community since its opening in 1897, commissioned by Richad Cadbury – first as a home to the Quaker community, then from the 1980’s onwards as a community centre – continuing the original objectives of the building, which are enshrined in a covenant of use: “for educational purposes, for purposes of recreation and other leisure time occupation [with the object of improving the conditions of life] and for other Charitable purposes”

When Richard Cadbury died, the building was held in trust and transferred to his children, and then in the 1980’s transferred to Birmingham City Council to manage and maintain. Once a thriving incubator of community activity with a café, function halls which hosted weddings, parties and meetings, music, arts and crafts, youth clubs and so much more, for the last twenty years it has experienced a consistent lack of maintenance and care via managed decline. 

The building now faces closure, with Birmingham City Council issuing short notice to the tenants and users. There are currently four organisations using the building: The Moseley Road Community Conservation Trust (TMRCCT), Centrion Care, Dunamis Birmingham, and Live Art Life-drawing.  Between us, and in the case of TMRCCT supported by National Lottery Awards For All funding, we provide arts and crafts, music and music therapy, and therapeutic writing activities, carers training and provision, advice and support services, sales of donated goods, and Church services. 

It is one of 23 landmark Birmingham buildings that feature on Historic England's at-risk register, highlighting their architectural significance and the challenges they face.

There has been a lack of transparency or willingness to find alternative solutions – citing health and safety concerns for the users of the building, when no such concerns had been presented over the previous decade, despite there being no heating, a broken boiler, the kitchen removed so the café had to be closed and a small leak in the roof escalating to major damage, meaning space can’t be hired.  As Custodian Trustees of the Charity, Moseley Road Community Centre no 516602, Birmingham City Council are responsible for “the provision and maintenance of an Institute or centre for the benefit of the inhabitants of Birmingham” at the Friends Institute. By their lack of maintenance of the building over the last 20 years or so, contributing to the deterioration of the building, they are, and have been for many years, in breach of these responsibilities.

Owing to The Friends Institute’s Grade 2* listed status,  Birmingham City Council are in breach of their legal responsibility to maintain the building. We see a continued lack of maintenance, and in particular wilful neglect of the building by allowing the roof to continue to leak since 2018  - a contravention of the Planning (Conservation Areas and Listed Buildings) act 1990.

The Friends Institute has been in continual use as a Community Centre since 1897, providing opportunities for local people to improve not only their health and well being, but also wider life chances through social and recreational activities, and education and training opportunities.

All of the above offer, and have offered in the past, invaluable opportunities for the community of Birmingham to engage in learning and training, self-improvement, information and advice, therapeutic and recreational activities and social support that provide considerable mental and physical benefits to participants, amongst whom are individuals with physical disabilities and mental health issues, as well as a range of other social and societal disadvantages.  Participants originate from a wide variety of social backgrounds and ethnic groups, and they include recent immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees, and those returning from prison or homelessness, as well as longstanding residents and their families and friends.

The Friends Institute is therefore a place of huge potential educational and social value, offering opportunities to develop the potential, and improve the well-being of not only the Highgate community, but the wider community of the City of Birmingham.  As a significant historic building, and as a vital resource for the local community, it is essential to retain the Friends Institute as a community resource, and to enable it to be restored and revitalised as a thriving community hub as it has been through much of its previous history.

We are urging Birmingham City Council to reconsider the closure of the building, and to work with us and the inhabitants of the City of Birmingham or some part of it, who are the stated beneficiaries of the Charity, to explore alternatives whilst continuing to deliver our vital services. We believe communities need space and meaningful provision, and that the Friends Institute can continue to do this, with support whilst we explore fundraising options and alternative models of management. 

Please sign this petition and share amongst your networks.

Thankyou

Friends of the Friends

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