Big Joe's home now a millstone; HIGHBURY HALL: Charity Commissioners demand pounds 5m back rent.

Byline: By David Bell 

CITY taxpayers are facing a shock pounds 5 million bill for unpaid rent on Highbury Hall, the Birmingham home of Joe Chamber - lain.

The elegant Victorian building in Moseley was taken over by the city council more than 20 years ago for civic hospitality and hired out for weddings, corporate entertaining, banquets and murder mystery evenings.

Now the Charity Commissioners are investigating why the Highbury estate - put in trust in 1932 - has not been used for the "charitable purposes" intende, and are are demanding 21 years back rent.

According to Coun John Alden, chairman of a committee set up to put right the neglected affairs of the 88 trusts and charities the city is responsible for, the bill could hit pounds 5 million.

"This is a serious challenge from the Charity Commissioners and we need to make sure we bring it under proper management," he said.

Officials are now studying more charitable uses of Highbury Hall after a survey revealed repair work costing pounds 1.2 million.

Among other likely breaches of the Highbury protocol is building the Chamberlain House offices on the estate - and paying no rent for them since the 1940s.

A preliminary survey of the other 88 charitable trusts under council control - they range in value from pounds 4 million to pounds 7 - has also revealed numerous other breaches. Properties involved include Victoria Park, Small Heath, and Rookery House, Erdington, which needs pounds 3 million to treat dry rot.

"The cost to the council to make good all the breaches may be in the order of pounds 25 million to pounds 50 million," Coun Alden added.

But council chief executive Stephen Hughes contested the claims, and said many trusts did not generate enough income.

Joseph Chamberlain (1836-1914), father of PM Neville Chamberlain, was a pioneering Mayor of Birmingham and later a cabinet minister.

CAPTION(S):

PIONEER... Joseph Chamberlain.' RETREAT... Highbury Hall, the large Victorian home built on high ground in Moseley for Joseph Chamberlain, a legendary Mayor of Birmingham.' DISAGREED... Coun John Alden and chief executive Stephen Hughes.