Bulldozers move in at Elmbank

Work has finally started at the Elmbank site, opposite the Arkley public house, to demolish derelict nurses’ homes that have been an eyesore for years. 

Once the land has been cleared, Linden Homes intend to build 93 flats and 21 houses on a 3.9-acre site that extends from its frontage on Barnet Road to just north of Barnet Hospital buildings in Wellhouse Lane.

Residents in Elmbank Avenue and other nearby roads have been informed that construction work is under way.

….a decision on the Marie Foster home was “imminent” … yet Barnet is still waiting!

Linden Homes, a member of the Considerate Constructors’ Scheme, says it is committed to being a good neighbour, and will be “working hard to minimise any potential problems” that might affect the local community.

The former nurses’ homes have been empty for years and have been one of High Barnet’s worst eyesores, having been ravaged by fire, damaged by roof collapses, and daubed with graffiti.

The Barnet Society and other local groups have campaigned long and hard for the properties to be either restored for housing or demolished.

Their abandonment by the NHS was seen as symbolising the shocking misuse of government assets.

Finally, the site was sold to Linden Homes in 2013 by the Barnet and Chase Farm NHS Trust.

Nonetheless there is still no sign of any decision being taken about the future of High Barnet’s other leading eyesore: the empty former Marie Foster home in Wood Street.

It has now been derelict for 15 years, but inquiries about its fate get nowhere.

In 2012 Theresa Villiers, the Chipping Barnet MP, told the Barnet Society’s annual question and answer session that she had been assured by the Secretary of State for Health, Jeremy Hunt, that a decision on the Marie Foster home was “imminent” … yet Barnet is still waiting!