The Culture and Environment Scrutiny Panel were scheduled to meet on Monday, 22nd September 2025 at the Civic Centre, Silver Street, Enfield to discuss an operational update on the Dugdale Arts Centre (DAC), and an update on the Forty Hall car parking consultation, future plans, and event delivery. The panel was also scheduled to note the Culture and Environment Scrutiny Panel Work Programme for 2025/26 and the dates of future meetings.

Forty Hall Car Parking Consultation

The panel was scheduled to receive an update on the outcome of the recent consultation on parking charges at Forty Hall and future plans and event delivery at Forty Hall.

The report pack stated that Forty Hall Park and heritage site currently benefits from free parking for visitors and local residents. The introduction of charges for parking formed a part of the budget setting proposals for 2025/6, with associated income estimated at £50,000 in the first part year of operation.

The Journeys & Places team launched two public consultations on 24 June 2025: one regarding the introduction of car parking charges at Forty Hall, and the other on implementing a Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ) in the surrounding Forty Hill area to contain displaced parking impact locally.

The Forty Hall car parking fees consultation proposed parking charges from 9am to 8pm daily, with the first 30 minutes free and 10 blue badge bays to be provided. The consultation received 2,043 responses, with 28 responses (1.4%) being supportive or neutral, and 2,015 (98.6%) opposing the scheme. Key concerns included affordability, limited public transport options, and the impact on volunteers and visitors with mobility issues who do not hold blue badges.

The proposed CPZ covered several roads in the Forty Hill area, with operational hours from 9am to 6:30pm and a mix of resident, short-term, and disabled parking bays. This consultation received 1,355 responses—220 via online survey and 1,135 by email. 15 responses (1.1%) supported the proposal and 1,340 (98.9%) objected. The main objections cited were high permit costs, lack of necessity, potential displacement of parking and negative impacts on access to local schools, churches and businesses.

Following the consultation responses, the following considerations were assessed:

• Extend free parking period to 1 hour
• Extend free parking period to 1 hour and reduce fees
• Retain parking fees scheme but withdraw CPZ proposals
• Pause both projects

It was noted that on 1 September 2025, a decision was taken by the Executive Director of Environment & Communities, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder to pause the implementation of car parking charges at Forty Hall and the proposed CPZ in the surrounding area given the feedback received from the consultation.

The report pack also included information on future plans and event delivery at Forty Hall, including a list of events scheduled for the autumn, such as a creative writing workshop with Aga Lesiewicz, photography workshops with David Kearley, and a performance of Macbeth by Shakespeare's Globe.

Dugdale Arts Centre Operational Update

The panel was scheduled to receive a report from Wesley Pemberton, Head of Culture, providing an update on the Dugdale Arts Centre (DAC) programme and associated operational delivery since the last update in November 2024, as well as future options for the DAC and future plans to generate increased income.

The report pack noted that over the past two years the Culture Team has used the DAC as a flexible, local venue to deliver a wide mix of professional and community-led events, support local groups and run grant-funded programmes that advance Enfield's Culture Strategy, as well as delivering borough moments like Holocaust Memorial Day and the Enfield Town fireworks.

The DAC is currently open to the public Tuesday to Saturday, from 9:30 AM to 5:00 PM, and also operates outside of standard opening times to accommodate shows, events, and private hires. DAC offers a diverse range of facilities including a theatre space, a café, a small retail shop, and an accredited museum—the Museum of Enfield.

The Culture Team continues to develop its year-round programme of diverse events, including in-house productions and external shows at the DAC. Recent in-house highlights include the Enfield Food Festival, Cocktails & Create—celebrating the relaunch of the Made in Enfield Gift Shop—and Rumours of Spring, an international film festival supported by the BFI FAN Film Fund¹.

The Culture Team runs and supports more than 16 regular community groups including Knit & Natter, NHS breastfeeding and perinatal sessions, Father2Father story time, Age UK², and Black Heritage Hub luncheon club.

The team also makes sure low-income families can join activities at low cost during holidays and weekends via film-and-meal offers, circus skills, storytelling and more, and run skills programmes for young people in partnership with Enfield Summer University.

The Culture Team wrote a Community Engagement Strategy with four clear goals: get underrepresented people involved; provide culturally relevant events; support local talent and create space for community voices, delivering this through Long-Term Links, Access, Co Production, Creative Health, and Community Development.

The Team acts as a connector across community groups, businesses and cultural organisations, representing the cultural sector in local placemaking work, hosting networking events, and running Continuing Professional Development sessions with council networks, for example, LGBTQ+ training at Pride.

The Team led a UKSPF³ funded sustainable public art project that delivered four new artworks in 2025, with local residents, school students and youth groups shaping the winning designs, and reclaimed paint being used to highlight sustainability.

The Culture Team coordinates borough-wide programmes for Pride, South Asian Heritage Month, Windrush, Black History Month, Holocaust Memorial Day, International Women's Day, VE Day, and Christmas, bringing communities together across Enfield.

The Team runs dementia-friendly sessions with Age UK, is signing up to the Mayor of London's Dementia Friendly Charter, and, responding to community feedback, will start monthly sensory-friendly sessions for neurodiverse children and families from October 2025, with DAC being the accessible venue where these sessions take place.

The Team relaunched the Made in Enfield shop in 2025 to help local makers sell their work and grow their businesses, now working with 18 local designers (up from 4) and revenue being up over 50% since relaunch.

The Culture Team is working with the Greater London Authority to build a North Central London Creative Health Partnership aiming to embed creative approaches into the local health system to improve wellbeing and reduce pressure on services.

The report pack stated that despite recent renovations, the venue continues to face significant design limitations that impact its commercial performance, with the heating and air conditioning systems being unreliable and requiring manual operation by Facilities Management, which is unavailable during evenings and weekends when many events take place. Additionally, the theatre's limited size and technical specification restrict the types of commercial shows that can be accommodated, reducing its attractiveness to touring productions and constraining income-generating opportunities.

As a result, income from events, hire and traded services is not covering running costs, and the Culture Team is facing budgetary pressures impacting its abilities to deliver, to scale programmes, invest in marketing or staff capacity, and means the team must continue to rely on short-term grants and careful prioritisation while exploring any new income opportunities and looking at options of where culture is provided.

In 2024/25, the council subsidy required to support the venue was £346,000. En-Food, the venue's catering operation, has undergone efforts to reduce staffing and supply costs, and while performance has improved, it still does not generate a financial return, and has been identified as a savings opportunity for both the current and next financial year.

The Culture team will keep pursuing grant funding to test and expand new programmes, and DAC aims to grow revenue from private hires, including corporate events and community functions, with a targeted marketing campaign to be launched to promote the venue's flexible spaces and features, with the aim of increasing bookings and diversifying income streams.

As a result, the future management of DAC is being considered, and once the available options have been fully appraised and initial engagement with Deutsche Bank has taken place, a formal paper will be brought forward to Cabinet, outlining all viable options and their implications to inform decision-making.

Work Programme 2025/26

The panel was scheduled to note the Culture & Environment Scrutiny Panel Work Programme 2025/26.

The following topics were listed in the draft work programme:

• Work Planning
• 2025 Heritage Strategy
• Dugdale Arts Centre
• Forty Hall
• Controlled Parking Zones (CPZs), Quieter Neighbourhoods and School Streets
• Leisure Centres
• Waste & Recycling Management
• Maintenance of Parks