After facing a barrage of complaints and criticism over proposal to build a new school for almost 2,000 pupils on what was formerly the Barnet Football Club stadium, the Ark Academy network admitted its plans were “not yet a done deal”.
In the feline appreciation stakes there is currently no contest in determining High Barnet’s most sociable – and safety conscious – cat.
After months of construction work, the last remaining scaffolding and hoardings are about to be removed from 25 new flats in Union Street, Barnet – the UK’s first purpose-built co-housing project for seniors.
Nine pupils from Totteridge Academy have been awarded special commendations by the educational charity TalentEd which enlists retired teachers to help pupils from low-income households to develop self-awareness and study skills.
Virgin Media hopes to be able to offer its ultrafast broadband network to 40,000 homes and businesses across the Borough of Barnet by the end of 2018.
Well over 300 members, friends and supporters attended the preview of the Barnet Guild of Artists’ 68th annual exhibition which continues at Christ Church, St Albans Road, until Saturday 6 August.
Continue reading Harbour scenes capture attention at artists’ exhibition
After mounting concern about the recent loss of leading retailers, High Barnet’s shopping centre has received a shot in the arm: H&M, the leading Swedish fashion chain, has finally signed up to take the lease of a brand new store in the Spires shopping centre.
After a career switch from his previous job as a political researcher, an aspiring High Barnet furniture and cabinet maker is gaining recognition at a series of craft and design shows.
Support for Barnet Market’s annual classic car show has proved so strong that it has become a showcase event for the increasingly-popular Barnet Classic Car Club.
Fragments of pottery and tiles found during an excavation of land within Wrotham Park has confirmed that the hamlet of Kitts End did exist during the 1471 Battle of Barnet – and that in fact there was probably habitation there as early as the 11th century.
An announcement that had been expected in early June about a go-ahead for the Spires shopping centre redevelopment has still not materialised, and there is still no date when work might start.
While we welcome educational use of the site, particularly if coupled with community access to the Academy’s indoor and outdoor sports and other facilities, the current proposal for 1,890 pupils plus 150 or so staff would be an over development.
Continue reading Barnet Society criticisms of Ark Pioneer Academy
High Barnet’s notoriety as a hot spot for parking fines is to be featured yet again on national television. Footage for a new series of Dom on the Spot was filmed in the High Street highlighting Barnet Council’s refusal to even consider a short period of free parking in order to help local traders.
Planners and consultants representing the proposed Ark Pioneer Academy to be built on the site of the former Barnet Football Club stadium at Underhill, insist that a new school for almost 2,000 pupils is needed for the northern part of the Borough of Barnet.
A print of Graham Turner’s celebrated painting of a young Richard III looking apprehensively across towards the Lancastrian army at the 1471 Battle of Barnet, is to go on display at Barnet Museum to help promote the current archaeological survey to determine the precise site of the battlefield.
Continue reading A misty Easter Sunday morning, just north of Barnet
Building houses and apartment blocks along a narrow, sloping 3.9-acre site, where the land falls sharply by 15 metres, is not a “builder’s dream” says Linden Home’s construction director Shawn Moore.
A radical redesign has been unveiled of the proposed new Noah’s Ark children’s hospice to be built at the environment centre off Byng Road, Barnet.
Continue reading New plans for Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice
A final go-ahead for construction work on a £7 million upgrade for the Spires shopping centre continues to depend on signing up an “international fashion brand”.
Continue reading Still no news on major fashion store for Spires
Residents are being consulted about the possibility of a massive extension to High Barnet’s controlled parking zone to cope with uncontrolled off-street car parking and traffic congestion following recent expansion at Barnet Hospital.
The tenth anniversary of the poisoning with radioactive polonium of the former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko brings back memories for an ex-Barnet journalist who reported on the role of Barnet Hospital in the story surrounding one of London’s most alarming assassinations.
Continue reading Russian spy’s poisoning and Barnet Hospital
A 50-acre green space, open to the public from dawn to dusk, would be one of the suggested benefits of the proposal to establish a natural burial ground on farmland behind Barnet Road and Barnet Gate Lane, Arkley.
A football team for former East Barnet grammar school boys that has expanded over the last sixty years to become a community-based amateur football club, has been celebrating the performance of its top players.
The Ark Academy network says it intends to work with planners at Barnet Council to try to meet local anxieties over proposals for a super-size, £31 million new school to be built on the site of Underhill, the former stadium of Barnet Football Club.
Continue reading Staggered start times at massive new school
An environmentally-friendly natural burial ground might be developed on farmland backing on to Barnet Gate Lane, Arkley, and Mays Lane, if there is local support, and planning permission can be obtained.
Continue reading Arkley farmland – a site for natural burials?
A survey to assess the size and shape of the lost hamlet of Kitts End could assist the ongoing archaeological investigation to determine the precise site of the Battle of Barnet of 1471.
Continue reading Was Kitts End closest to the Battle of Barnet?
The combination of planning relaxations, housing demand, property prices and uncertainty as to Council intentions makes this a critical time for building in Chipping Barnet.
After a year’s delay, and a dearth of information, public exhibitions are finally being arranged to allow public consultation over the proposals to build a new free school with over 1,800 places on the site of the Underhill Stadium, formerly the home of Barnet Football Club.
“The boys dun good” was the general consensus of passers-by as three High Barnet seniors spent 16 man hours giving the Church Passage bench a much-needed wash and brush-up.
High Barnet’s claim to be the highest spot between London and York meant it was ideally situated to take part in the lighting of beacons to mark the Queen’s 90th birthday.
Three volunteers spent the morning washing down and scrubbing clean the long, architecturally-designed teak bench that is beside the gardens in Church Passage, just off Barnet High Street.
Continue reading Community action spruces up Church Passage bench
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Paul Scott posted a comment on Promise of 100 affordable new homes influences final go ahead for tower blocks at High Barnet tube station and loss of car parking
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Paul Scott posted a comment on Promise of 100 affordable new homes influences final go ahead for tower blocks at High Barnet tube station and loss of car parking
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