A campaign to save what has been dubbed the “mighty oak” of Whitings Road has made significant progress.
Ancient oak tree might be spared
Author: Nick Jones
Homes to replace High Street shops
Two High Street premises will be extended to include flats if planning permission can be obtained from Barnet Council – and both applications have already sparked controversy.
Queen Elizabeth’s Girls’ School best results ever
Queen Elizabeth’s Girls’ School has just recorded its best-ever GCSE results – a high point in the career of the retiring headmistress Kate Webster.
The school’s success has coincided with a plea by the Barnet Society for school’s oldest buildings, largely obscured by modern additions, to be given protected status by Barnet Council.
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Broadband – will Virgin Media step in?
After endless delays and broken promises by British Telecom, High Barnet residents without high-speed broadband are being encouraged by Theresa Villiers MP to think of signing up for a rival service being that might be offered by Virgin Media.
£7 million upgrade for the Spires
A Canadian investment fund is the new owner of the Spires shopping centre in High Barnet, having paid £40 million for what the agents say is prime retail space in “one of London’s largest and fastest-growing boroughs, as well as one of the most affluent”.
Union Street residents annoyed
Two new housing developments are changing still further the appearance of Union Street in High Barnet, which in recent years has lost shops, offices, a school and even its public house.
Green roof for countryside headquarters
A living roof planted with sedum is one of the eco-friendly features of the new Barnet Environment Centre, which is nearing completion at the end of Byng Road.
Old Fold Manor Golf Club proposed landscaping works
The Club’s application for major re-landscaping has been submitted to the planners. The Barnet Society is minded to support it – but only subject to tough planning conditions. The Society Committee has agreed a draft response.
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Town and Country free-for-all
You’d think that planning controls in the Green Belt and Conservation Areas would be stricter than elsewhere. No longer.
The Battle of Barnet Project
A re-enactment of scenes from a medieval battlefield was the highlight of the official launch of the Battle of Barnet Project – a two-year survey to determine the exact site of one of the grisliest battles of the Wars of the Roses.
Bargain hunters boost Boys’ Brigade
High Barnet’s biggest and best jumble sale – that is the proud boast of the 1st Barnet Boys’ Brigade and Girls’ Association, which holds three jumble sales a year to pay for the cost of the brigade’s upkeep and equipment.
Tie a yellow ribbon
A yellow ribbon is tied around the trunk, and the words “save me” have been sprayed onto the bark of a healthy 100-year old oak tree which Barnet Council intends to cut down as part of a housing scheme in Whitings Road.
New finds may throw light on Barnet’s history
When work starts in October on a survey and excavation to find the site of the Battle of Barnet of 1471, local residents and schoolchildren will have their chance to play a part in the great upsurge in interest in medieval history that has occurred since the discovery of King Richard III’s remains in a Leicester car park.
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Needing some warmth
Barnet High Street is once again bedecked with flowering hanging baskets – their arrival was delayed by the late spring and they are still in need of some more warm weather!
Underhill stadium sold for new school
Barnet Football Club’s vacant stadium at Underhill has been purchased by the government’s Education Funding Agency as a site for a new free school. Two applications for new schools to serve the Barnet area are currently being considered by the Department for Education.
Underhill stadium: site for new six-form-entry academy school
Barnet Football Club’s vacant stadium at Underhill is to be demolished to make way for a proposed new free school – Ark Pioneer Academy – that would eventually accommodate more than 1,800 pupils.
Continue reading Underhill stadium: site for new six-form-entry academy school
100 new houses planned
Work could start as early as January next year on High Barnet’s largest housing development since the opening of the Dollis Valley estate. If planning permission is obtained, Linden Homes plan to construct over 100 new homes on the vacant Elmbank site that extends from Barnet Road, Arkley, almost to Barnet Hospital.
Is the tide turning?
After a run of closures over recent months, the High Street now offers several new restaurants and cafes. The proprietors are hoping the custom they attract will encourage increased business for other shops and traders in High Barnet’s shopping centre and perhaps attract other new retail ventures.
Broadband Alternative
Barnet residents who cannot get high speed broadband from British Telecom have been offered an alternative solution that can offer speeds of between 16-30mps.
Broadband campaigners prove their case
A street-by-street survey conducted by local residents has demonstrated overwhelming support for a campaign to persuade British Telecom to provide up to 3,000 High Barnet residents with the fast broadband connection they so desperately need.
Campaign for new primary school
All seven primary schools in High Barnet and Underhill have again been oversubscribed, leaving 32 children without an agreed place in September – yet another indication of the strength of local demand for an additional school.
Old Red Lion campaign continues
Barnet Council has been accused by supporters of the Campaign for Real Ale of acting in an underhand way in rejecting an application to grant community asset protection to the now closed Old Red Lion public house at the bottom of Barnet Hill.
Boarded-up: one sorry sight to go
One of High Barnet’s worst eyesores, the derelict former nurses’ home opposite the Arkley public house, is to be demolished to make way for a housing scheme that aims to provide approximately 100 new homes.
Physic well at risk?
Torchlight tour of Barnet’s historic physic well but is another historic building at risk? Local residents had a rare opportunity to see inside Barnet’s historic physic well when Barnet Museum organised an open day at the well house, a short walk from Barnet Hospital.
A six-horse race for Chipping Barnet
Six candidates have been nominated for the Chipping Barnet constituency in the general election on Thursday 7 May – a seat currently held by Theresa Villiers, who has been the Conservative MP for the constituency since 2005.
George V plaques
Barnet Society member Sheila Durchslag has issued an alert over two missing George V plaques from the entrance to the fields off Barnet Lane.
Broadband campaigners go street-to-street
High Barnet residents without access to a fast broadband connection are canvassing their neighbours in the hope of demonstrating to British Telecom that there is strong local demand that would more than justify investment in the nine additional fibre-enabled cabinets that are needed.
Golf course landfill plan: questions that need answering
A scheme to re-landscape much of the Old Fold Manor Golf Club at Hadley Common that involves felling mature trees along half a mile of the St Albans Road needs to be explained in much greater detail before being granted planning permission by Barnet Council.
Continue reading Golf course landfill plan: questions that need answering
Battle of Barnet investigation go-ahead
Military archaeologists from Huddersfield University hope to start work in May surveying the possible site of the Battle of Barnet of 1471, in preparation for a full-scale investigation.
The Old Red Lion – CAMRA steps in
Barnet Council is being urged by the Campaign for Real Ale to prevent the demolition of the Old Red Lion public house, at the bottom of Barnet Hill, by declaring it a community asset for the use of local residents.
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