We, the Friends of Bushey Museum (Registered Charity no: 1039713), are spearheading a petition to be presented to Hertsmere Borough Council. 

The aim of our petition is:

“To prevent the council relocating Bushey Museum & Art Gallery from Rudolph Road to the proposed community hub planned at the Bushey Country Club development”. 

Ever since Hertsmere Borough Council announced they had signed off on the redevelopment of the Bushey Golf Club site in August 2025, the future of Bushey Museum & Art Gallery (“the Museum”) was thrown into serious doubt.

We were right to be concerned. 

The Museum is under threat of being removed from its home of more three decades - the former Bushey Urban District Council Offices in the heart of Bushey village Conservation Area. 

Nominated twice and a previous winner of the VisitEngland “Hidden Gem” award, the Museum holds the largest collection of public artworks in Hertfordshire, including artworks  by 19th century portraitist and polymath, Sir Hubert von Herkomer (1849-1914), and students of his famous Bushey Art School, notably Lucy Kemp-Welch (1869-1958). The Museum has formally dedicated two complete galleries to Herkomer and Kemp-Welch. 

The proposed plan is to build 286 homes within a community complex. The scheme includes a supermarket, car park, and a ‘modern community and cultural hub’ containing an early years’ facility, a café, library and an ‘art gallery’.

The first public consultation revealed a vague, artist’s impression of a modern, white building with no real indication of actual size or interior layout.

It looks likely that the Museum will be rehoused in a template ‘white box’ without the necessary storage space for the entirety of its vast collection of art and heritage objects. This would simply not allow for future expansion, which is inevitable, as it would include the works of both traditional and contemporary Bushey artists.

The proposed relocation will incur considerable costs and result in a significant upheaval.

We later discovered that the architects had based their initial plan for the gallery on a previous,  modern museum design. The proposal clearly shows their ignorance or complete misunderstanding of the Museum and its contents, its unique location and setting. And its long-established, active role in conserving and promoting the artistic, historic and cultural heritage of Bushey and its community.

The Friends of Bushey Museum say the proposed plan is ill-conceived and totally out of context for the following key reasons:

·        Historical 

·        Cultural

·        Practical

·        Financial

·        Aesthetic 

We call on Hertsmere Borough Council to stop their plan to relocate Bushey Museum & Art Gallery from Rudolph Road to the proposed community hub planned at the Bushey Country Club development.

This petition has been organised with the approval of the Chairman and the Trustees of Bushey Museum.

PLEASE NOTE:  We are asking for your signature only, NOT a  donation. The 'Subscription tab' at the very top of this website page is NOT part of our petition campaign. It is for separately donating  to the Change Org  organisation only.