Residents are frustrated by the long wait for repairs to the lift at Palace Gardens reports Grace Howarth, Local Democracy Reporter

A car exiting a car park — Palace Gardens car park entrance library end (Credit – Google Streetview)

An Enfield resident is frustrated by a broken lift at Palace Gardens shopping centre which has been out of order “for over a year”.

Richard Battell, who is 83, said he and his friends use the multi-storey car park, at the Enfield Town library end of the shopping centre, to visit the library or the shops.

Since the lift has been out of use, to get to street-level, Richard said he “takes a break” while walking up and down the car park’s “several flights”.

He said: “My friends and I are all pretty old and we can park there and go across to the library for Age UK events or tea and chats. But it’s so far to have to walk [without the lift]…we’re not spring chickens.”

Richard, who has a Blue Badge, added the three disabled bays outside the library were “often full”.

He said he’d enquired with Enfield Council about when the lift would be repaired several times but was told recently there were no funds to fix it and it may “never be repaired”.

Richard added: “They’ve just leased out the property [Palace Gardens] for 250 years to Deutsche Bank, did they not get any repair funds?”

In April, the council granted the bank a new 250-year lease of the shopping centre to enable “growth and enhancement” of the site.

A council spokesperson said: “We would like to apologise for the delay to the repairs to this lift. We are currently in a transition period where a new headlease at Palace Gardens, which includes the carpark, nears completion. While this new arrangement could bring long-term improvements, we recognise the immediate impact on accessibility in the short term.

“We are committed to ensuring Enfield Town remains accessible to all residents and visitors. There are five lifts in Palace Gardens. While the lift closest to the library is out-of-order, disabled bays are available on Sarnesfield Road and blue badge holders can park on yellow lines, where there are no loading restrictions in place, for a maximum stay of three hours.”

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