The Society is a non-political organisation of residents committed to the protection and improvement of the local environment.

The area incorporates Chipping Barnet, Hadley and New Barnet, Arkley and the Dollis Valley. It includes two Conservation Areas and several miles of the border between Greater London and the Green Belt.

Barnet is a pleasant place to live and work - the members are resolved to keep it that way.

As many people are drawn to live in the area, open spaces especially are under constant pressure from developers.

The Barnet Society helps ensure that planning rules and policies are observed and as necessary lobbies for changes to the law in order that Barnet can continue to retain its particular charm. Trevor Jukes and Gwyneth Cowing founded The Barnet Society at the end of the Second World War to give a voice to the majority of local people who believed that the Green Belt needed to be defended.

The Society exercises constant vigilance through its Planning and Environment sub-committee, and is represented on the Conservation Area Advisory Committee, the Barnet Area Forum and the Local Agenda 21 Partnership.  It also recognises the value of good development and tries to promote it.

Main objectives

• Stimulate a lively interest in Barnet and its neighbourhood
• Monitor activities which might prove a threat to the Green Belt, and take appropriate action
• Call attention to activities of public or private authorities which might affect the interests of Barnet citizens
• Initiate proposals for improving the local environment, amenities and local cultural interests