Category: General News

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Civic awards for legendary Barnet Market trader David Bone and Barnet Museum’s deputy curator Hilary Harrison

Barnet Market stalwart David Bone, who has been selling fruit and vegetables since he started as a boy at the age of seven helping on his father’s stall, has been awarded a 2026 Borough of Barnet Civic Award for Lifetime Achievement.

His award is recognition of 65 years of “unwavering commitment and dedication” to serving generations of Barnet residents through rain, snow and sunshine.

David – above left, with his son Tyler who now runs the family stall – was praised for his legendary reliability among customers and fellow traders.

Other award winners included a Civic Award for Lifetime Achievement for the late Christine Shields, for her contributions to the East Barnet Residents’ Association and the East Barnet Festival and her role as school governor and hospital volunteer.

A Civic Award for Outstanding Service to the Community went to Sheila Gallagher, in recognition of her initiative in setting up and sustaining the Chipping Barnet Foodbank.

Hilary Harrison, deputy curator of Barnet Museum, was awarded a Civic Award for Outstanding Service to the Community for her work “championing Barnet’s history, heritage, culture and identity”.

An exhibition for which she collected and assembled the information was the display at The Spires to mark the 60th anniversary of the London Borough of Barnet – see above, from left to right, Mike Noronha, Barnet Museum curator; Hilary Harrison, deputy curator; and Councillor Paul Edwards.

In the citation for her award, Hilary was praised for her role in organising the 60th anniversary display, her work in preparing the annual display of Battle of Barnet banners and for her role at Barnet Museum leading education and outreach activities with local schools and community groups.  

The 2026 civic awards ceremony was held at Hendon Town Hall where the Deputy Lieutenant for the Borough of Barnet, Martin Russell, read the individual citations for the awards which were presented by the Mayor of Barnet, Councillor Danny Rich.

Civic awards for Barnet Market trader David Bone after 65 years' legendary service and for deupty curator at Barnet Museum, Hilary Harrison

David Bone’s long connection with Barnet Market began in 1959 when his father Albert – see above – opened the first fruit and vegetable stall at what was then the Barnet cattle mark.

Albert, who died in 2021 at the age of 95, was helped on the stall by his wife Joan, his son David, and his sisters Roma and Rachel.

David started a separate vegetable stall next to his parents’ pitch when he left school, and he now assists his own son Tyler who runs the family business.

“It’s always been a family affair. My father’s father, Albert Bone senior, used to help, and now my son Tyler runs the business. So that’s four generations who have been serving customers in Barnet.”

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High Court backs approval for two travellers’ caravans in a Mays Lane paddock once used for grazing horses

High Court rejects attempt by Barnet Council to halt the go ahead for a site for two travellers' caravans on a paddock in Mays Lane Green Belt

Barnet Council’s attempt to halt the go ahead for a travellers’ caravan site on a field in Green Belt land off Mays Lane has failed in the High Court to the disappointment of a local residents’ group.

Gina Theodorou, chair of the Quinta Village Green Residents’ Association, said that despite the setback they were determined to continue their fight to protect the Green Belt along Mays Lane.

Failure by the council to secure a full judicial review of a planning inspector’s decision in favour of the travellers site means that work installing hard standing can now go ahead in a two-acre paddock – see above – which was previously used for grazing horses.

Space has been approved for two static caravans, two mobile homes and two day rooms to be occupied by two traveller families.

The application was made by brothers Patrick and J Casey.

A refusal by the council to grant approval led to a lengthy planning inquiry last year when the inspector decided that the “very special circumstances” of the two families outweighed any harm to the Green Belt.

This ruling was challenged by the council on the grounds that the inspector’s conclusion was factually flawed because of his conclusion that a go ahead for the site was in the best interests of the “seven young children” involved.

In its challenge, the council argued that the evidence showed that in fact only four or five children would live on the site.

After a two-hour hearing – which Ms Theodorou attended – the High Court accepted that while there was a factual error in the inspector’s decision it did not materially affect the outcome of whether to allow the site on Green Belt land. Development could now proceed.

“We are disappointed because although this decision affects only one site, it means that once the land is developed it undermines the protection for our local green spaces,” said Ms Theodorou.

“There could now be future proposals for travellers’ sites on Green Belt land on both sides of the paddock and this approval would make it easier to justify.

“But that is how the Green Belt is gradually eroded.

“Our focus now has to be to focus on the bigger picture – to protect what remains of our Green Belt along Mays Lane and to ensure that our local green spaces are managed in a way that benefits both the environment and the community.”   

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Leaseholders of The Spires Shopping Centre in administration – Chipping Barnet Town Team seeking full explanation 

Chipping Barnet Town Team are seeking a full explanation given concern about leaseholders of The Spires Shopping Centre in administration.

A renewed attempt is being made to get up to date information on the future ownership of The Spires Shopping Centre in High Barnet following a second intervention by the High Court appointing administrators for companies involved with its leases.

Purchase of The Spires for £28 million in 2021 was made in the name of BYM Capital which went into administration in 2023.

Freehold of The Spires’ site is owned by Barnet Council.

Companies House has now confirmed new administrators have been appointed to take control of NEG The Spires Ltd, named as the holder of the leases.

An associated company NEG Barnet Market Ltd, which owns the freehold of the former site of Barnet Market, is also under the control of the same administrators.

Given the new situation and the possibility, the adjacent sites could now be split up – and the added grave uncertainty about the future of one of the town’s key assets – the Chipping Barnet Town Team is seeking to make contact with the new team of administrators.

“Community groups and other key stakeholders in the town are desperate to find out what is going on,” said town team secretary Eamonn Rafferty.

“We have all been left in the dark for far too long.”

“Bearing in mind the strategic importance to the town of The Spires precinct of shops, the Waitrose supermarket and the multi-storey car park, we think the Town Team must be consulted before any key decisions are taken about their future.

“We want to know more about the options being considered by the administrators. If there is a complicated break-up of the assets it could put the future of the entire shopping centre at risk.”

Barnet Councillor David Longstaff, a member of the Town Team, and the Chipping Barnet MP Dan Tomlinson, have both indicated they will try to gain more information. 

When administrators were first appointed in November 2023, Barnet Council – which owns the freehold of The Spires’ site – insisted that there would be no interruption in the running of the shopping centre.

Operation of the centre and its facilities such as public conveniences – conducted through the management of Savills Property Management – was said to be the responsibility of a separate company which the council had been assured was not in the hands of the administrators and would continue without interruption.

FMX Urban Property Advisers, which took on responsibility in March 2024 for leasing retail units in the shopping centre, told the Barnet Society that it was “business as usual” when it came to seeking for new tenants for vacant outlets.

“Our role as letting agents is not affected” said FMX.

In promotional material, it describes The Spires as a “primary retail destination…boasting an affluent surrounding catchment and benefiting from excellent transport links and a 440-space multi-storey car park”.

FMX said their instructions were to help implement a “dynamic and proactive retail strategy” for The Spires.

Prior to going into administration BYM Capital held discussions with Barnet Council and public consultations about possible redevelopment.

There were proposals – about which nothing further has been heard – to convert the shopping centre into a new retail thoroughfare with blocks of flats and shops below together with more flats above the car park and on the site of the former market.

Currently the market site is a car park operated by Britannia Parking, which also operates the multi-storey at the shopping centre.

Concern over how best to safeguard the future of the shopping centre, prompted the formation of a resident’s “Save The Spires” campaign which handed out leaflets calling on Barnet Council to take active steps to preserve “a safe, quiet and much used” civic space at the heart of High Barnet.

Covered walkways and squares within the shopping centre were an important amenity because they were “free of traffic and deserved to be maintained and kept open to the public”. 

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Small children not cars take control of the road outside their homes as High Barnet parents take advantage of a play street closure

A road closure most parents might welcome would be when the street outside their homes is transformed into a safe play space for small children free of traffic.

Encouraging children to start playing outdoors – an activity which has been in sad decline in recent years – is a passion for a High Barnet mother who has followed through and delivered for her neighbours.

The end of Calvert Road, which forms a short cul-de-sac, becomes a designated play space for the morning of the last Sunday of the month – and it has official recognition with a road closure notice installed by Barnet Council’s highways department.

Several roads across the Borough of Barnet are closed when residents apply for a play street closure and the parents around Calvert Road are hoping other neighbourhoods in High Barnet might joint in so that children could have even more opportunities to play outside their homes in safety.

Hiranya de Alwis Jayasinghe, above with her three-year-old son Freddie, first applied for a temporary Sunday morning play street closure for Calvert Road last summer and it proved an immediate success.

Sometimes up to a dozen small children from homes in surrounding roads such as Sebright, Puller and Alston join in the fun – a chance to ride up and down, chalk pictures on the road, or even blow bubbles.

“What children have lost in recent years is the freedom to play safely in the street outside their homes, the kind of encounter that was so commonplace years ago,” said Hiranya.

She wanted her son Freddie to experience playing with his friends outside and made inquiries.

“We got up a petition to support our application and checked with people living nearby. Largely they were all ok with it and Barnet Council were really helpful and supportive, so we now have a Sunday morning street closure for three hours once a month.”

Hiranya had seen how her son Freddie had started taking an interest in the road outside. He began to recognise the different fences and front doors as they walked along, and she realised that he was interested in what was happening in the street outside.

“Playing outside in the street is something which previous generations took for granted, but playing outdoors is like clean air: you don’t miss it until you don’t have it and sadly that is what happened.

“Children playing outside has gone down by 50 per cent within a generation – and we all know the reasons: cars go so fast they are such a risk to children; cars are parked everywhere and seem to have taken over; for too many children screentime has become far too dominant; and parents have so many other fears for the safety of their children.”

Hiranya thought every parent should be aware of the consequences about not encouraging outdoor play: the health issues arising from a sedentary life and the worrying signs for mental health – 15 per cent of children aged seven to ten have a mental health problem.

“I now have a passion for encouraging children to play outside, especially close to where they live rather than always having to go to the park.

“It is such a simple intervention, but it makes such a difference. Here are opportunities for children to make social contact right on their doorstep which is so beneficial.

“They build up an association with the street where they live. It is their street and they care for it, and who knows in the future they will make sure it is a free of litter and rubbish.”

Small children take over as play street road closure in Calvert Road, High Barnet, provides a chance to play outside in the street -- an encounter in sad decline in recent years.

Longtime Calvert Road resident Chris Nightingale – who donned a yellow jacket to volunteer to help – said the Calvert Road play street closure was a model for other nearby roads and a marvellous example of community support and action.

He agreed with Hiranya that if other nearby cul-de-sacs such as Falklands Road or Cecil Court thought of joining in with the playstreet scheme there would be a network of places where small children could play outside on Sunday mornings.   

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Repairs needed to earth bank at Jack’s Lake after leak in dam wall threatened Monken Hadley Common beauty spot  

Steel piling has been used to strengthen the retaining wall along the side of Jack’s Lake in Monken Hadley Common after the bank sprang a leak which was posing a danger to the long-term future of one of Barnet’s most popular beauty spots.

Barnet Council provided a grant of £40,000 from community infrastructure money to pay for the work which will include the restoration of the bank with water loving plants and foliage.

Steel piling was inserted to a depth of 3.5metres along a 25-metre-long section of the retaining wall and then backfilled with 36 tons of pudding clay to provide a permanent plug to stop further leaks.

Dan Tomlinson, MP for Chipping Barnet, was shown progress on the two-week project – above, from left to right, Phil Keown, treasurer of Monken Hadley Common Trust, Dan Tomlinson, Hadley Common duty curator Roger De La Mare, and Steve Johnson, project manager.

Jack’s Lake – established in around 1770 – is one of several ponds which continue from the common through Hadley Wood Golf Course. They are all fed by local streams.

The retaining wall, which holds in Jack’s Lake, is alongside the footpath from Monken Hadley to Cockfosters – where the overflow from the ponds joins Pymmes Brook.

Until the 1950s, Jack’s Lake was a popular boating lake, and it is now the preserve of the Hadley Angling and Preservation Society.

Project leader Martin Vaughan (above) said the leak was causing serious erosion in the retaining bank and had needed a full repair.

The next phase of the project would be to lay coir matting over the top of the piling which would provide growing space for reeds and plants, and which would encourage lakeside wildlife.

Urgent repairs after a leak in retaining wall at Jack's Lake in Monken Hadley Common paid for by a grant from Barnet Council.

Andrew Langford, a volunteer bailiff for the angling society, described to Mr Tomlinson how the vegetation would recover and once again provide a natural habitat.

Mr Tomlinson, who is Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, congratulated the trust on doing so much to safeguard the common and Jack’s Lake and for the support of East Barnet councillor Edith David.

“As a Treasury minister I must say how happy I am to see that £40,000 of public money has been really well spent on stopping a potentially dangerous leak and in ensuring that the public can go on enjoying Jack’s Lake for years to come.”  

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Imagining what happens when Charles Dickens gets stranded in Barnet – latest theatre production puts the author of the spot

When Charles Dickens was forced the spend the night at the Red Lion in Barnet he faced some harsh truths – a challenging story line delivered with style and conviction by the cast of Between the Lines, which had its first night at The Bull Theatre in a run of sell-out performances.

Barnet’s rich history and literary connections are brought to life in the latest original production by the Blue Door Theatre Company.

When the town is snowed up halting all coaches to and from London, Dickens takes refuge at the Red Lion along with other stranded passengers whose enforced stay leads to some awkward conversations and unexpected revelations.

Dickens, by now an old man with a walking stick, died six months later.

The thrust of the story line created by Barnet playwright Sarah Munford and her co-writer Claire Fisher is to encourage the audience to form their own view about Dickens and whether he had been misogynistic towards women.

Dickens (Chris Browning) was heading north when his coach was halted by a snowstorm.

He was welcomed to the Red Lion by the landlady Peggy (Naomi Richards) who catches her visitor by surprise – she was one of the many prostitutes taken off the streets of London with the author’s help and who later made a success of her life.

Reminders of Dickens’ earlier visits to Barnet – and the inspiration he found in the town – provide material for a range of script lines.

An opening scene is a meeting of the guardians at Barnet Workhouse who are hearing an application from a blacksmith’s widow from Finchley and her son.

The guardians are divided on what to do – from left to right above, Miss Pooley (Lynne Austin), Lady Huffington (Jan Parker), Constance Dribble (Niki Patel) and Norman Nunhead (Gary Murphy).

Another flashback is in the capable hands of Abel Abel (Ross Wilson) whose conversations with Dickens hark back to the time he was said to have found inspiration at the steps in the High Street of the former Victoria Bakery – the location in Oliver Twist where Oliver was thought to have met the Artful Dodger.  

Most of the action features Barnet’s lowlife, including the Barnet Belles – as named by Dickens – who were a group of prostitutes based across the road from the Red Lion at The Bull public house.

Revelations come thick and fast as women share memories and anecdotes of past liaisons and encounters.

Such is the rich tapestry of recollections that newspaper reporter Percy Perchance (Francesco Giacon) – who is also marooned in “desolate, deepest North London” – is spoilt for choice and is soon writing the headline for his own story: Dickens Unmasked. 

Rivalry between the Red Lion and The Bull in offering a welcome to the loose women of Barnet provides some graphic commentary – and a chance for a pertinent and amusing piece of casting.

Susie Earnshaw, founder of the Susie Earnshaw Theatre School, which is based at The Bull Theatre takes on the role of The Bull’s landlady. A well-known regular is the notorious Barney Betteroff (Tony Nagle).

A key moment is when Peggy finally confronts Dickens with letters which she wrote to him but never posted and which delve into the author’s past relationships with women – a confrontation full of contradictions which Dickens does not enjoy being reminded of!

A constant backdrop to the production are the blow-ups of photographs from the Barnet Museum collection showing how the town centre looked in the Victorian era – images which are all the more powerful because some capture period buildings like the Red Lion and the parish church during heavy snowfall.  

Interspersing the scenes are songs written by the musical director Nick Godwin of The Silencerz.

Latest production at The Bull Theatre, Barnet, imagines what might have happened when author Charles Dickens is marooned for the night in the Red Lion on the opposite side of the High Street.

Paying tribute to the cast and all those who had contributed behind the scenes, director Siobhan Dunne said Blue Door Theatre Company was proud of its work in providing community theatre for the town – above, front row, from left to the right, Claire Fisher, Sarah Munford, Siobhan Dunne and Susie Earnshaw.

Their aim was to continue producing one original and locally written play a year as well as a published text.

She made a heartfelt plea to the audience to support an appeal to raise £10,000 to help with the cost of new theatrical equipment for The Bull.

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Strengthened protection for woodland close to Hadley Green which has become a wildlife corridor close to Barnet town centre

A planning dispute over an unsuccessful bid to build a large new house within the Monken Hadley conservation area has resulted in Barnet Council declaring a woodland tree preservation order on the whole site.

An objection by the owners to the strengthening of the tree protection for the one-acre site – see above – was rejected by the planning committee.

It said the strip of land alongside Christchurch Lane – opposite the junction with Sunset View – was classified by ecologists as “lowland mixed deciduous woodland” and was a “priority habitat deciduous woodland”.

As planning authority, Barnet Council had a duty to protect this asset with a “woodland tree preservation order”.

The trees on the site – including oak, ash, birch and walnut and a shrub layer of yew, hawthorn and laurel – provided “considerable visual amenity” in an area of a mosaic of small green spaces.

Nearby residents who objected to the original plan to build a large house on the site have hailed the decision as another decisive step in their campaign to preserve what they believe is a significant wildlife corridor between Hadley Green and the Old Fold Manor Golf Course.

In March, an application by Christchurchgrove Ltd to build a six-bedroom house on the site was refused by the council because it would do “unacceptable harm” to a woodland habitat and damage the conservation area.

Stregthened protection for woodland in Monken Hadley conservation area hailed by residents as decicisive in campaign to protect wildlife corridor

In objecting to the proposed tree preservation order for the whole site, the company said the land was already covered by eight separate tree preservation orders and therefore there was already adequate protection.

Without approval for the construction of the proposed house would be no management plan for the woodland which was already displaying symptoms of becoming unkempt and neglected.

There had been growth in the woods of non-indigenous and invasive species which was starting to denude the quality of the habitat.

In response, the council said that in the 45 years since the original tree preservation orders were made, many new trees had established themselves and had merit.

They had altered significantly the appearance of the land, adding to the “woodland character” of the site.

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“When Will They Ever Learn?” – blue plaque rebuke for Barnet Council’s highways team over fallout from ban on parking 

A blue plaque has been installed outside a house in Calvert Road to draw attention to an ongoing dispute between residents and Barnet Council over the painting of double yellow line parking restrictions at the junction with Sebright Road.

Their complaint is that the council refused to listen to their concerns and has failed to respond to their argument that the restrictions are excessive and have created a dangerous corner by speeding up traffic.

Dr Chris Nightingale commissioned the plaque – highlighting the refrain “When Will They Ever Learn?” from a 1950s Pete Seeger’s protest song – to remind Barnet Councillors that they should engage with residents and take their concerns seriously.

He says residents of Sebright and Calvert feel ignored and abandoned. Traffic speeds around their narrow streets of mainly small cottages and terraced homes have increased as a result of a double-yellow line restriction which they believe is longer than at other comparable road junctions.

So far there has been no response to a letter they sent to the council’s chief executive, Cath Shaw, reminding her of Barnet’s core values such as the undertaking by councillors to “actively listen, respond, collaborate and share ideas” with residents.

The legend around the edge of the plaque could not be clearer:

“Plaque commemorates the failure of Barnet Council to listen – thereby creating a dangerous corner and loss of parking.”

The dispute with the council over the parking restrictions began in June last year and finally the council went ahead with painting the yellow lines – an operation which did not go smoothly for the council’s contractors.

This prompted a rebuke from the council:

“Unfortunately, several vehicle owners did not follow the request to keep the junction clear to facilitate the line marking installation and it was necessary to arrange for the presence of a vehicle lifter.

“Council contractors were verbally abused. We expect contractors to be free to undertake work in a safe environment.

“Contractors asked for the council’s community safety team to attend when contractors returned.”

Blue plaque in Sebright Road, Barnet, rebukes Barnet Council for frailing to listen over residents objections to doube yellow line parking restrictions

Mrs Louise Cain (above, second from right) organised a petition to protest at the proposed parking restriction but it was rejected because it had not reached the minimum number of 500 signatures.

Although a letter sent by the group to Cath Shaw had not been acknowledged, she said a reply from the council’s highways team did not address their complaints about the lack of consultation and the fair treatment of residents’ concerns.

They were told to approach their local councillors to seek support if they wished to make a request regarding road safety design or parking as the highways team had already attended to review their concerns.

“Unfortunately, the reply we have received is very confused. We think the double yellow lines are too long and that other junctions in the vicinity have far less severe restrictions,” said Mrs Cain.

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As Dollis Valley regeneration about to move ahead, launch of new job club will offer help and support to gain skills and employment

A job club is being established at the Hope Corner Community Centre in Mays Lane, Barnet, offering three sessions a week aimed at giving advice on employment and training and a chance to learn new skills.

A year’s funding for the club coincides with an imminent start on completing the Dollis Valley estate regeneration with the construction of 221 new homes at affordable rents.

Guidance on job opportunities and training will be provided each Tuesday afternoon by Boost, Barnet Council’s employment and advice service (from 1pm to 4pm).

The Shaw Trust will hold a drop-in session on Friday mornings offering advice on health and job support programmes (from 9.30am to 2pm).

A tailoring and sewing course – a free make and mend programme – will equip those taking part for job and business opportunities.

Julian Desborough (above, far right), secretary of Barnet Churches Action which established the community centre ten years ago, said they recognised the need for advice on employment and training.

Demand is likely to increase once demolition starts in preparation for the final completion of phases four and five of the Dollis Valley regeneration.

Work on the replacement Brook Valley Gardens estate has been stalled since 2023 but despite further delays and a fresh disagreement about the split between private and social housing, Mr Desborough said their hope and expectation was that the regeneration was back on track.  

Residents who had to move from Dollis Valley after their blocks of flats and maisonettes were condemned because of damp and mould will get the chance to return to new socially rented housing under the management of Barnet Homes.

The construction and opening of the Hope Corner Community Centre – above which are three floors of affordably-rented flats – marked the start of the Dollis Valley regeneration.

Centre manager Janet Nestor – see above, with Julian Desborough and James Ricks of the Boost employment and advice service – supervises a wide range of activities for the community.

As well as a café offering breakfast and lunch at affordable prices, the centre has two halls for classes and events including exercise and flower arranging classes, Pilates, and mother and baby and maths tutor classes.  

Hope Corner Community Centre in Mays Lane to launch job club offering help with employment and training.

Hope Corner Job Club, to be launched on Thursday 30 April, is already attracting considerable interest.

A dozen participants have signed up so far. For further information email hopecornerjobclub@outlook.com or visit Hope Corner Community Centre at 185 Mays Lane.

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Work authorised on ponds at golf course in Friern Barnet to increase water storage and reduce risk of flooding in north London

Two ponds at North Middlesex Golf Club in Friern Barnet Lane are to be cleared of silt and enlarged to improve flood management after heavy rainfall.

Water storage capacity along Blacketts Brook, which flows through the golf course and includes the two ponds, is to be increased at a cost of £340,000.

As part of the scheme, which is being funded by the Environment Agency, the two balancing ponds will be widened and de-silted.

A third flood storage basin further downstream, but within the golf course, will also be improved.

Enlargement will enable the ponds to retain more water and ease flooding in north London.

From the golf course, Blacketts Brook, flows through Friary Park and enters a culvert under both Friern Barnet Lane and the main railway line before joining Pymmes Brook.

Pymmes Brook, which flows through East Barnet village and Oak Hill Park, is itself subject to flooding.

This threat increases after Pymmes Brook is joined by tributaries such as Blacketts Brook and where, further south, flooding causes even greater problems in Upper Edmonton and Tottenham.

Two ponds along Blacketts Brook at Friern Barnet golf course to be enlarged to alleviate flooding after heavy rainfall

The two ponds in the golf course form part of a site of importance for nature conservation as they are thought to provide habitat for Palmate newts, which are rare in London.

Friary Park – where the continuation of Blacketts Brook is a popular feature – is also a site of importance for nature conservation.

In another move to improve flood resilience within the Borough of Barnet, the Environment Agency is to carry out an inspection of the Stoney Wood Lake reservoir near Mill Hill Golf Course at a cost of £82,000.

This is considered a high-risk large, raised reservoir. It has a capacity of at least 25,000 cubic metres of water above natural ground level.

The reservoir, formed by a dam constructed of steel sheet piling, impounds natural surface water.

There will now be a survey of 380 metres of sheet piling to assess the structure and identify any corrosion or damage.

Dan Tomlinson, MP for Chipping Barnet, welcomed the investment in the flood alleviation schemes.

“Climate crisis means we are facing greater rainfall and higher flood risk.

“We must do this work now: expanding capacity, ensuring resilience, making our infrastructure fit for the future, because the cost of inaction, waiting until there is a flood, is far greater.”

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Anger in Arkley over plans for a massive new housing estate attracts tv news team ahead of Barnet Council elections   

A controversial plan to build up to 230 houses and an 80-bed care home on a former pig farm at Arkley was featured by ITV News London in a report ahead of May’s council elections about the political arguments surrounding the development of green belt land.

Bugler Homes of Rickmansworth is hoping to take advantage of new guidance allowing house building on “previously developed” sites which can now be deemed to be grey belt land.

Arkley resident Hayley Winton (above) told ITV London political correspondent Simon Harris that if Barnet Council approved the scheme, it would have a “huge impact” on life in the village, increasing its size by 25 per cent.

“Arkley is a small village with low density housing, in the middle of the green belt, and a high-density development of 300 homes doesn’t feel right.”

Hayley’s opposition to the scheme was shared by another resident Jyoti Dhanak who said it would be shocking if such a large part of green belt was built on.

“Once the green belt has gone, it has gone, and it cannot be replaced.”

Because access to the site had been refused, camera operator Gemma Green used a drone to film the 17-acre former pig farm, which is off Rowley Lane, Arkley, and is in the middle of scrubland and woods bordered by the A1 Barnet by-pass.

In its “initial vision” for the development, Bugler Homes has applied to the council to discuss plans to build 230 homes, with 50 per cent affordable housing; an 80-bed care home; publicly accessible green spaces and allotments; and improved public right of way footpaths.

Robin Bishop (above) who leads for the Barnet Society on planning and the environment, told Simon Harris the development would represent a “substantial erosion” of the green belt which had separated Barnet and Arkley from Borehamwood for the last 80 years.

The fields and woodland around Arkley are included in plans to create a new regional park which is included in Barnet Council’s latest local plan.

“If this development were to be approved it would be a major breach of the proposed regional park.

“A new regional park is a much welcome proposal. It would help to create a comprehensively managed area like the Lea Valley regional park.”

Mr Bishop urged planning authorities to proceed with care before allowing development in what housebuilders claimed was now the grey belt.

“If councils give permission for every derelict site in the green belt much of the new housing will be highly unsuitable, in places where people will not be close to amenities or public transport.”

The Rowley Lane pig farm site is part of a triangle of land which is bounded by Barnet Road, Barnet by-pass and Rowley Lane.

The illustration above shows how the land — to the east of the by-pass — has been parcelled into different plots.

Online research has revealed that 148 acres of land within this area – almost all of which is green belt – is owned by housebuilders and other associated companies and could provide space for up to 1,200 new homes.

If planning permission for housing could be obtained the land would be worth over £150 million.

One housebuilder owns 25 acres, with potential for 192 houses, on a site worth £39 million; another has 22 acres, with room for 285 homes, on a site worth £43 million.

Robin Bishop said the revelation that so much of the green belt land to the north of Arkley is effectively a land bank for housebuilders only serves to highlight the looming scandal over the likely approval of grey belt land for housing and other needs.

“There seems every likelihood that unlocking grey belt land for development will result in windfall profits for developers who have wilfully neglected land which they have been sitting on for years.

ITV News London to feature controversial plan for massive new housing estate in Arkley as part of report into political row over green belt land ahead of council elections.

Close to the pig farm site there has been unauthorised clearance of woodland in what had been declared a site of importance for nature conservation.

Hayley Winton said Arkley residents had been appalled when they saw a bulldozer hacking away at mature trees and levelling an acre of the woodland.

“Apparently the land has been sold as three plots for housing but there is no planning permission.

“We reported what happened to Barnet Council who say this is one of the worst cases they have ever seen of destruction of protected trees.

“We were told there will be consequences but how do you replace woodland like this which is in the green belt and was supposed to have special protection.”

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Concert at Monken Hadley parish church to support financial appeal for new community hall to replace original Church House

A six-year fund-raising campaign for a new community hall at Monken Hadley is not far short of its £1.3 million target with the hope it might be possible finally to start to demolish the existing unsafe Church House by the end of the year.

The latest event to help towards pushing the appeal over the line is An Evening of Song at Monken Hadley parish church on Monday 20 April at 7.30pm.

Event organiser Katie Morris and chair of fund-raising Elaine Padmore — see above, from left to right – are hoping that tickets sales and further donations will help get the appeal to within touching distance of being able to authorise a start to the work.

So far £980,000 has been raised through events, donations and grants towards providing a new community hub for Monken Hadley residents and local organisations.

The Evening of Song concert will feature countertenor Will Prior and pianist Matthew Clemmet.

Will Prior, who studied music at Magdalen College, Oxford, is currently finishing a master’s in vocal performance at the Royal College of Music.

As a concert soloist, he has recently performed locally with the UK Japan Choir in Bach’s St John Passion and Handel’s Messiah, as well as in Bach’s Mass in B Minor with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.

Matthew Clemmet is an Oxford music graduate who is currently pursuing his postgraduate studies at the Royal College of Music.

He specialises in song, opera, and chamber music and won the pianist prize in the RCM Lieder Competition and second prize in the Joan Chissell Schumann Competition.

Renovation of Church House was ruled out because of continuing subsidence, due to the lack of adequate foundations, which has rendered the building unsafe and had to be closed to the public.

The appeal to construct a new community building was launched six years with a highly successful Son et Lumiere and the fund has been built up with help of a contribution from the community infrastructure levy collected by the London Borough of Barnet.

The new community hall will include a main assembly room for events, a large kitchen, toilets, showers and changing facilities for the cricket club.

There will be full wheelchair access, and the garden will be renovated to create a safe enclosed space for events.

An Evening of Song concert at Monken Hadley parish church to raise money for the appeal for a new community hall

A caption to an early photograph in the church archives says that Church House, which dates to the 18th century, was once the stables to Beacon House.

During the French revolution two French priests fled from France and were given refuge by the Rector, the Reverend John Burrows.

The building was then improved and used as a house, known as Hadley Cottage, home to a Miss Burrows, daughter of the Rector, and then Miss Bourier.

In 1910 it was converted for use as a parish hall and later a school room. 

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Historic prayers and verses add a moving to tribute to the men who lost their lives in the 1471 Battle of Barnet

A service of commemoration and laying of wreaths marked the 555th anniversary of the Battle of Barnet – a service researched and devised by the recently appointed rector of Monken Hadley parish church, the Reverend Francesco Aresco.

He read from texts which would have been known by the men who fought in the battle, most of whom left no name and who were buried in unknown graves in the vicinity of Hadley Highstone.

Francesco said the service was a moment to stand at the Highstone and remember their dying before God:

“These men who woke that morning, laced their boots, felt the fog on their faces, and did not come home.”

Whatever divided the Lancastrians and Yorkists on the battlefield, the ground around them received those who died without distinction and “has held them these five hundred and fifty-five years” since the day of the battle, 14 April 1471.

Dr Susan Skedd (above, right) director of the annual Barnet Medieval Festival, led the wreath laying ceremony – seen with Dame Theresa Villiers, the former MP for Chipping Barnet.

Her wreath – made from recycled flowers by Ursula Stone of the Flower Bank community project in New Barnet – included red and white roses and carnations “perfectly arranged” to reflect the colours of the Lancastrians and Yorkists.

Other wreaths were laid by Martin Russell, Deputy Lieutenant of Greater London; Monken Hadley church; East Barnet Royal British Legion branch and club; and by Barry Swain of the Barnet Tourist Board.

Francesco, who was appointed rector of Monken Hadley parish church in February last year, said that he had carried out his own research into the Battle of Barnet and hoped that the service reflected the momentous events that day.

His order of service – see illustration above – began with a prayer which the church of 1471 would have used, in the Latin the men at the battlefield would have known:

“Gloria Patri et Filio

et Spiritui Sancto”

Many of the men who assembled for the battle did not leave. “They were men of a world ordered by oath and obligation, by the faith they owed their lord and the faith they owed their God.”

Martin Russell then read verses which were composed in England some five hundred years before the Battle of Barnet by a poet whose name is lost.

“They were made for exactly this: for standing at the edge of a world that is no more and asking where the dead have gone”:

“The halls have fallen. The rulers lie dead.

Where is the horse gone? Where the young warrior?”

Wreath laying and service of commemoration to remember the men who died in the Battle of Barnet of 1471, Special service for 555th anniversary

Ursula Stone’s Flower Bank project has been providing a wreath for the Highstone commemoration since the services were introduced in 2021.

“We are always full of admiration for the wreaths which Ursula designs for us and this year the red and white roses and carnations are so appropriate,” said Susan Skedd.

Ursula’s flower arranging classes using surplus flowers from shops and events have been widely praised and her initiative was recognised in 2023 with a Barnet Council award for outstanding service to the community.

The wreath laying ceremony was an opportunity help publicise this year’s Barnet Medieval Festival which is to be held at the Lewis of London Ice Cream Farm, in Galley Lane, Barnet, over the weekend of June 6 and 7.

New attractions this year will include mounted knights in combat and a falconry display.

To highlight this year’s 555th anniversary celebrations, Barnet Tourist Board is hoping to announce a fresh attempt to determine the site of the Battle of Barnet.

Researchers Brian Carroll and Barry Swain have been drawing up plans to enlist a team of metal detectors to conduct a fresh search.

They were looking into new theories about the route taken by Yorkist army as it left London and headed for Barnet to meet the Lancastrians.

Cromer Road Primary School in New Barnet is one of the sites which the Yorkists might have passed and then returned to London after their victory.

“Close to the school is a small wood – which was once of playing field – where there could be a sweep by a team of metal detectors,” said Brian Carroll.

“We think this part of New Barnet is very promising as we know that someone who lived in Clifford Road said their grandfather discovered bit and pieces of a musket in the garden.”   

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Government and developers set their sights on the Green Belt

View of Green Belt south of Potters Bar showing green fields, trees and hedges with M25 in background

This swathe of Green Belt (above) will be mostly built over if current plans are approved. And within Barnet, dozens of so-called ‘Grey Belt’ sites are being targetted for new homes (few of which are likely to be affordable). The Labour Council promises to create a Regional Park, which could prevent that. This should be an issue in our local election in May – but do voters know or care?

Between Potters Bar and Borehamwood, several enormous data centres have already been approved on land in the foreground of the photo above. Beyond the M25 will be a major expansion of Sky studios. For land off to the left of the photo, a planning application for 900 new homes has been refused by Hertsmere Council, but the developer has appealed against the decision.

Crews Hill & Chase Park new town

Between Barnet and Enfield, the government proposes a new town of 21,000 homes on Green Belt land. The plans are supported by Enfield Council and the Mayor of London but opposed by the Enfield Society and Enfield RoadWatch.

The Barnet Society has objected to any loss of the green buffer that exists between Barnet and Enfield. It is vital to preserve the separate identities of settlements that would otherwise merge into amorphous suburbia, and a vital reservoir of biodiversity.

Just ahead of the local elections in May, groups and communities across the UK will be taking part in a UK-wide Day of Action for Nature, Parks and Green Spaces on Saturday 18 April. Its purpose is to demonstrate, visibly and collectively, that people everywhere care deeply about the natural world and want to see it protected and restored. Join the national day of action here.

Barnet’s Green Belt

The countryside on three sides of Chipping (or High) Barnet was saved in 1945 from housing development, largely by the efforts of the Barnet Society. In 1955 it was formally designated part of the London Metropolitan Green Belt. The map above shows how well it has survived – at least until now.

For decades developers have tried to build in it. So far, our Council has effectively prevented most new development. Exceptions have generally been restricted to replacement of obsolescent farm buildings.

Lately, however, we’ve seen an increase in speculative purchases of, and planning applications for, Green Belt land. Also notable has been unsightly and apparently deliberate neglect of existing buildings and landscape. The prospect of profiting from escalating land values and house prices beats the cost of maintaining or restoring property.

Expectations have been fuelled by the housing crisis, which has driven up mortgages and rents. And building costs have soared due to Brexit, Covid-19, wars in Ukraine and the Middle East and the higher safety standards introduced since the Grenfell Tower tragedy. Building on city brownfield sites has become less financially viable. No wonder the Green Belt, where building is cheaper, has become so appealing to developers and politicians.

And Labour politicians have opened the door to its development.

Grey Belt sites

In 2024, Sir Keir Starmer promised to release low-quality or neglected Green Belt land for housebuilding. In 2025, the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) was revised to allow housing development on Grey Belt sites subject to ‘Golden Rules’. And public consultation recently closed on further relaxations of the NPPF.

The consequence has been a flood of planning applications for allegedly Grey sites. In December 2025 CPRE, the countryside charity, reported new research revealing that the Grey Belt policy is enabling large-scale development on England’s unspoilt rural landscapes – not, as ministers promised, on unused car parks and derelict petrol stations.

Since December 2024, when the policy was introduced, 13 developments of 10 or more homes have been approved by government Planning Inspectors on Grey land in the Green Belt. The approvals have been granted over the heads of local councils. Of the 1,250 homes these schemes will deliver, 88% will be built on previously undeveloped countryside.

In Barnet, it’s becoming routine for prospective developers of Green Belt land to describe their sites as Grey. Although some sites are quite small, they’re dotted around and have a disproportionately harmful impact on the countryside. Most aren’t served by public transport and won’t be developed for affordable (let alone social) housing. A selection is illustrated below.

Barnet Regional Park

Barnet Labour Party’s local election leaflet contains this pledge:

“We will… create a ‘Regional Park’ in the green belt.”

It would be centred on the astonishingly intact and peaceful fields and woods between Arkley and Mill Hill (below).

The concept is already embedded in Barnet’s Local Plan (adopted by the Council last year) where Policy GSS13 states,

“The Council supports the creation of a new Regional Park within designated Green Belt or Metropolitan Open Land in the Brent Valley and Barnet Plateau Green Grid Area…”

Inspired in part by the success of the Lea Valley Regional Park, interventions would include “the enhancement of footpath, cycling and bridleway networks; improved green corridors and nature conservation areas [and] a network of new strategic recreational destinations.”

The map below (from the Council’s 2019 Growth Strategy) shows its intended configuration.

Most importantly – since the Regional Park contains several of the Grey sites illustrated above – designation should provide stronger protection from inappropriate development. It would bring better public awareness and funding to ensure high design standards and long-term management of the area.

An imaginative suggestion from Roger Chapman of Barnet Green Spaces Network is for a regional food and biodiversity park to encourage a wide range of food growing practices. Linked with primary, secondary and post-16 education institutions and forest schools, it would provide an inspiring setting for environmental education and pathways to vocational qualifications in horticulture, animal husbandry and other skills essential for future food security.

As Roger says, “The park would build upon Barnet’s extensive agricultural history and heritage, enabling old stories to be retold and new ones to be created.” That’s an idea worth voting for.

The need for proper planning

Debate about the Green Belt is hampered by the lack of any regional strategy. There has been no planning body for the South-East for decades. Responsibility for the Green Belt is split between dozens of Local Planning Authorities.

The Mayor of London launched a London-wide review of the Green Belt to identify Grey Belt land for housing to tackle London’s housing crisis, but it is limited to the Greater London area. It was expected to be completed by the end of 2025 but is still awaited.

As a consequence every planning application in the Green (or Grey) Belt, however minor, becomes a bitter battle between developers, planners and residents.

The creation of the Green Belt was made possible by the government’s adoption of Patrick Abercrombie’s Greater London Plan, which created a ring of new towns around London, outside the Green Belt, to absorb the demand for new housing and promote alternative centres of growth. If we had a vision as sensible and comprehensive as that for our society – and for the natural world with which we co-exist – surely most of us would accept development in the most sustainable (or least harmful) locations in exchange for guaranteed long-term protection of our most beautiful and biodiverse environments.

Crews Hill & Chase Park new town and Barnet Regional Park could be examples of such an approach. As yet details of both projects are far too hazy for a final public decision. But each could transform substantial sectors of their borough. Whether to proceed with project planning, feasibility studies and technical investigations ought to be a matter of great public interest. This coming election is an opportunity to test the popularity of both projects.

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Visiting East Barnet and a chance to admire an English Heritage blue plaque to an eminent philosopher was quite an achievement 

Stopping outside a house in a quiet residential street near Oakleigh Park, East Barnet, was mission accomplished for London Ambulance administrative officer David Sleep who is a lover of history and a great supporter of English Heritage blue plaques honouring the lives of famous people.

A mid-terrace house in Burlington Rise proudly displays a blue plaque in honour of the philosopher Sir Karl Popper and it was the last on David’s list to see in Greater London.

David has now visited a total of 1,028 blue plaques since being introduced to their significance three years ago on a walk in Clapham and Battersea organised by Dr Susan Skedd (above right) who is a blue plaque historian for English Heritage.

Susan, who is a member of the Barnet Society, and who is Director of Barnet Medieval Festival and who organises history walks in and around High Barnet, said she was delighted to join David for the moment he was able to tick off the last of the blue plaques on his list.

“I met David again in March on a walk in Pimlico and when he told me he had seen nearly every English Heritage blue plaque in Greater London.  I promised to join him in Burlington Rise.”

On each visit, David always takes a selfie of himself with the plaque in the background, and his hobby is of great value to English Heritage because it helps staff monitor the condition of the plaques.

“For the last three years I have been going out every weekend to see another plaque on my list – on Good Friday I saw the blue plaque in Parkside, Mill Hill, commemorating the motor racing driver Graham Hill and now on Easter Monday here I am in East Barnet for the Karl Popper plaque.”

David gets great pleasure from learning about the people commemorated by the plaques, about the homes where they lived, and what was happening to them at that time in their lives.

He is a member of English Heritage and a volunteer at Eltham Palace which is close to his home in southeast London.

Sir Karl Popper, who was born in Vienna, is considered to have been one of the 20th century’s most influential philosophers of science.

In 1928 he earned a doctorate in psychology and started work on his first book, which he needed to complete in order to get an academic position in a country safe for people of Jewish descent.

Finally, in 1937, he managed to secure a post as lecturer in philosophy at the University of New Zealand in Christchurch where he wrote his influential work, The Open Society and Its Enemies.

After the Second World War, he moved to the UK in 1946 and became a reader in logic and scientific method at the London School of Economics.

With his wife Josefine, they moved to Burlington Rise, Oakleigh Park, East Barnet, which was their home for four years until 1950 when they moved to Penn in Buckinghamshire.

The Popper plaque in Burlington Rise was installed in 2008 following an upsurge in research into the former residences of famous people out in the London suburbs.

“So many of the English Heritage plaques are all around inner London and the outer boroughs are catching up,” said Susan.

“We unveil a dozen new plaques every year and the first of this year’s new plaques is due to be revealed in April.”

She said the importance of the plaque to Sir Karl was that it captured the time he moved to the United Kingdom when he had established his name as a philosopher and had recently published his highly influential book The Open Society and Its Enemies.

Mission accomplished for history lover who visits English Heritage blue plaque in East Barnet to eminent philosopher Sir Karl Popper

A key conclusion of the book, which Susan came armed with for David’s visit, deserved to be quoted:

“Our fear of admitting responsibility for our ethical decisions is entirely ours and cannot be shifted to anybody else, neither to God, nor to nature, nor to society, nor to history. We cannot shirk this responsibility, whichever authority we may accept, it is we who accept it.”

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Final days at Builders Arms, New Barnet, as customers sign a petition to get asset of community value order to safeguard pub’s future  

A two-year struggle to keep going amid the disruption caused by ending up in the middle of a construction site has finally defeated the landlady of the aptly named Builders Arms in New Barnet.

She has reluctantly decided to hand her tenancy back to the brewers Greene King raising local concern about the future of a pub praised by the Campaign for Real Ale.

A petition has been launched by customers and friends to preserve what they say is a “much loved local institution”.

The aim of the petition organisers, Danielle Holiday and Nikki Hill, is to secure the registration of the Builders Arms as an asset of community value with Barnet Council while exploring other possible business models for the pub.

East Barnet’s councillors – Phil Cohen, Edith David and Simon Radford – have all signed the petition and are promising their support in the bid to safeguard the pub’s future by gaining ACV status.

Landlady Silva told the Barnet Society that once construction work started in 2024 on the massive housing development on the site of the former New Barnet gas works customers found it increasingly difficult to reach the pub.

Albert Road is the is the main access to the site where Fairview Homes are building eleven high-rise blocks of flats to provide 420 new homes – and a street view shows how the pub is dwarfed the scale of the redevelopment.

Initially Albert Road was blocked regularly by lorries delivering materials and construction equipment and, because of the hindrance and possible danger to customers, the Builders Arms had to cease opening at lunch times.

“Since then, access to the pub hasn’t improved and it has been a real struggle financially. It has just proved too much.”

Silva, who took on the Builders Arms eight years ago, said that she could not hang on for another year or two until the completion of the new development when all the flats might be fully occupied.

“You simply cannot run a pub when it is in the middle of a construction site. It is so off putting for customers. We can’t survive, so our tenancy ends on Sunday 12 April.

“At present there is no through road and no parking but let’s hope that Greene King can re-open one day.”

Once news broke two weeks ago that the pub was to close there has been an emotional response on the Builders Arm’s Facebook page with an appeal to regular customers to celebrate the “happy times, the music, and the unforgettable nights” they had all enjoyed.

With the pub having to be cleared of furniture, signs and fixtures, customers were invited to raise a glass and perhaps “even take home a little piece of the Builders Arms, something that might be a treasure for you.”

CAMRA has backed the Builders Arms as a real ale pub since 1970, and it has built up considerable loyalty over the

decades.

Connie East (see above) said that serving behind the bar was a real privilege because the Builders Arms had always been part of her family.

“I was brought here first as a baby 24 years ago as my parents were regulars. It has always been a real family pub.”

Dannielle Holiday, who helped organise the petition, has an even stronger family connection.

Her grandfather was a customer, so were her parents, and her own grown-up children have followed the tradition.

“The Builders Arms is a living testament to the rich local history of New Barnet,” said Danielle.

“Hundreds of local residents are signing up and joining our effort to preserve a much-cherished local pub.”

Petition launch to get asset of community value order on Builders Arms, New Barnet, becuase of pub's closure due to construction disruption during massive housing development.

When the Barnet Society first reported on the plight of the Builders Arms in 2024 the assistant manager Nina Hristova – see above – looked on in despair as work was progressing on a block of flats immediately opposite the pub.

At the time East Barnet councillor Simon Radford and Chipping Barnet MP Dan Tomlinson intervened after the pub’s staff appealed for help in curbing the mayhem and keeping the highway clear of work.

Councillor Radford said he and councillors Cohen and David had built up considerable expertise in using the asset of community value process to safeguard threatened pubs – and exercise which had proved highly successful when campaigning for the re-opening of Prince of Wales, the only pub in East Barnet village.

“As councillors we would like to pay tribute to Silva, George, Nina and the rest of the team who have run the Builders Arms for so many years, making it truly a community asset despite such outsized challenges to the business,” said councillor Radford.

“We owe them a debt of gratitude for what they have achieved with the pub, and we would also like to thank Daniella and Nikki for leading from the front in trying to save the pub.”

Councillor David said she hoped the community would show what the pub meant to them by signing the petition.

“We can all demonstrate our links with the Builders Arms through family stories and how the pub has been there for us on special occasions. The fight to save the Builders Arms goes on.”

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Barnet, Borough of Towers – surely a local election issue?

The tsunami of tall buildings that started 20 years ago in West Hendon and Brent Cross is now breaking on the northern suburbs of Barnet. Above are samples: High Barnet Place and Great North Leisure Park, both refused by the Council but called in by the Mayor of London; and Edgware town centre, approved by the Council. Their transformation of our borough, visually and socially, should surely be a local election issue on 7 May.

The Mayor has referred the decisions on High Barnet Place and Great North Leisure Park to his Deputy, Jules Pipe, who’s on record as supporting high-density schemes at Arnos Grove and Stanmore. We’re concerned about the conflict of interest, and with Barnet Residents Association have written to him to say so. Read our full letter to him below.

Mayor Kahn is keen to improve his house-building record and recently announced reductions in the proportion of affordable housing to 20% of the total; the previous minimum was 35% (currently offered at High Barnet). He’s also lifted a requirement in his London Plan for all flats to be dual-aspect – a regrettable lowering of their quality threshold.

The Labour Council’s rejection of the High Barnet and Great North Leisure Park applications indicated its awareness of the growing strength of public opposition to overdevelopment. We understand that it has asked the Mayor to respect the Council’s resounding decisions (by 8 votes to 1 and 8 to 0 respectively) to refuse both applications.

Housing deserves to be a major issue in May’s local elections – but design quality and appropriateness to its neighbourhood are just as important as quantity.

Some excellent new housing has been built recently in Barnet. Brook Valley Gardens, 931 High Road and Edgewood Mews (L-R below) show what can be done by building at high density but retaining a human scale.

But High Barnet Place won’t do that. What it would deliver, if approved by the Deputy Mayor, is a row of slabs that will brutally dominate our gentle, historic town and its green surroundings.

Now that the local election campaign has begun, the public hearing can’t be held until after the vote on Thursday 7 May (in practice, probably June at the earliest). The Barnet Society & Barnet Residents Association intend to submit a joint written statement beforehand and to speak at the hearing with a single voice, as we did at the Barnet Strategic Planning Committee in December. Individuals who have previously made written representations about the application either to Barnet Council or directly to the Greater London Assembly (GLA) can also request to speak.

You can show your concern about the crisis in affordable housing and harm to our neighbourhood and heritage assets by joining in the National Housing Demonstration on Saturday 18th April 1pm In Central London. Sign up here https://www.housingdemo.org/ for the Assembly point.

You can also help mitigate the impact of the Great Northern development by signing this petition to save trees on the site boundary.

Joint letter by the Barnet Society & Barnet Residents Association, 28 March 2026

For the attention of Jules Pipe, Deputy Mayor of London

Dear Mr Pipe,   

We write on behalf of the Barnet Society and the Barnet Residents Association regarding your decision to call in this planning application for Stage 2 review.

We recognise the reasons for the Mayor’s recusal. However, delegation to a Deputy does not resolve the acknowledged conflict of interest. The application relates to TfL land, and TfL forms part of the GLA group. Given your strategic responsibility for planning and your publicly expressed support for the programme of developing station car parks, there is a perception risk that the decision-making process lacks the necessary distance and objectivity. This concern is heightened by your prior public statements on LinkedIn and elsewhere indicating that the High Barnet proposal “will deliver” key benefits. You have expressed similar sentiments in relation to the Arnos Grove and Stanmore schemes. Even if unintended, such language gives rise to a perception of pre-judgment. Confidence in the integrity of the review process depends not only on independence and fairness but on the clear appearance of independence and fairness.

Barnet’s Strategic Planning Committee refused the application primarily because of its fundamental conflict with the adopted Local Plan regarding height and townscape impact. That policy position was established through an evidence-based assessment and endorsed by the Planning Inspectorate in examination. Reliance on the Hillingdon case cited by the applicant and officers was misleading as Hillingdon never undertook an assessment of their site. If strategic intervention were now to override the Local Plan without compelling and transparently evidenced justification to demonstrate why Barnet and the Planning Inspectorate may have got it wrong, the credibility of plan-led decision-making across London would inevitably be weakened.

We also remain concerned that certain material planning considerations were ignored or presented in a misleading manner prior to refusal, including:

  • failure to properly test the visual impact of the eleven-storey block on the skyline and on the setting of the listed St John the Baptist Church, including the omission or manipulation of key viewpoints;
  • no recognition that the elevated topography of the High Barnet station site materially increases the perceived scale and dominance of the buildings;
  • misleading claims regarding improved drop-off and pick-up arrangements, which would reduce existing informal capacity and risk congestion on the A1000;
  • There are also evidently inadequate features of the scheme that were not properly addressed in the documentation provided by the applicant or in the officer’s report to committee;
  • creation of homes of unacceptably poor safety and quality in terms of layout, detailed design and amenity;
  • minimal improvements to modal inter-connectivity, accessibility and safety that would be negated by loss of the car park.

We emphasise that we do not oppose redevelopment of the station car park in principle. Our concern is with the scale, form and long-term consequences of this particular scheme.

You will appreciate the wider significance of this case. As Mayor of Hackney you previously expressed strong opposition when London Mayoral intervention overrode local planning judgment on the Bishopsgate scheme that you considered “far too high” and inappropriate to its context. The present situation raises closely analogous concerns regarding the balance between strategic objectives and the integrity of local democratic decision-making.

Given the strength of local opposition, the adopted policy context, and the acknowledged governance sensitivities, we respectfully urge that the review process gives full and transparent weight to these issues before any determination is reached.

Yours sincerely,

Robin Bishop, Planning & Environment Lead, The Barnet Society

Gordon Massey, Planning Officer, Barnet Residents Association

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Music festival organisers announce more details of a packed programme of summer concerts in and around High Barnet

Young musicians will be to the fore during a summer season of concerts to be held at several High Barnet venues including the parish church of St the Baptist.

Barnet viola player Inis Oirr Asano (above), who lives in Underhill, will be appearing with the Elmore Quarter during the High Barnet Chamber Music Festival in June.

Young students will be performing during the summer festival by Jack’s Lake at Hadley Wood which starts with a prelude concert at the parish church on Saturday 11 April.

The programme will include Vivaldi Four Seasons (Ilona Domnich, soprano; Charles Mutter, violinist; and Neil Varley, accordionist).

Summer concerts beside Jack’s Lake start in May and are in aid of the Monken Hadley Common Trust (see details below).

High Barnet Chamber Music Festival opens on Saturday 6 June with a free family concert at 3pm at St Mark’s Church, Barnet Vale, with flautist Hannah Gillingham and harpist Lise Vandersmissen.

Mad Song, a contemporary ensemble (see above) returns to the parish church with a programme themed around Fire and Water at 7.30pm on Saturday 13 June.

Music by Anna Clyne sits alongside works by other contemporary composers including Brett Dean and Richard Causton.

The Elmore Quartet, which has just won the Royal Overseas League string ensemble prize – with viola player Inis Oirr Asano – will be at the parish church at 7.30pm on Saturday 20 June with music by Ravel, Britten, Shostakovich, and Geyer.

The festival closes with a performance by The Portrait Players at the Friends’ Recital Hall, at Queen Elizabeth’s School, at 3pm on Sunday 28 June with music by Strozzi, Caccini, Leonarda, an Elton.

More details: https://www.hbcmf.co.uk/

Young mjusicians to the fore during a packed programme of summer concerts around High Barnet organised by music festivals.

The prelude concert promoting this summer’s music festival at Jack’s Lake – at the parish church on Saturday 11 April (doors open 6pm) – will include Vivaldi Four Seasons (Ilona Domnich, soprano; Charles Mutter, violinist; and Neil Varley, accordionist).

The summer concerts at Jack’s Lake are May 16 or 17; June 13 or 14; July 11 or 12; August 8 or 9.

The programme will include new arrangements for violin/viola, piano, accordion and voice, Habanera from Carmen, Piazzolla (Libertango and Oblivion), Hans Zimmer (Gladiator), as well as Grieg, Bellini, Gounod and Vivaldi (two Seasons, excerpts from Gloria and Tamerlano).

Jack’s Lake Summer Music Festival: https://ilonadomnich.com/projects/hadley-woods-festival-music-on-jacks-lake/

‘Prelude to Music by Jack’s Lake’ concert at St. John the Baptist Parish Church.

Saturday 11 April, 7pm Tickets £5 -£20 https://www.ticketsource.co.uk

North London’s concert band – Da Capo Concert Band – will be holding its summer concert at the Barnet parish church on Saturday 27 June.

Da Capo Concert Band: https://www.dacapoconcertband.co.uk

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Open day at centre for homeless in Barnet – a chance to support a fashion show of clothes which they have designed and produced

Homeless Action in Barnet – a leading charity assisting rough sleepers across the borough – is organising an open day at its headquarters in Woodhouse Road, North Finchley, where a highlight will be a fashion show of outfits created and modelled by some of those who are being supported.

HAB, as it is known, provides over 9,000 hot meals at year at its day centre and organises a night shelter each evening at one or other of the 30 or so churches and synagogues which make space available. 

All the clothes for the fashion show have been designed and made from recycled material and second-hand clothing and the aim of this initiative, backed by volunteers, is to help build confidence among people facing homelessness and insecurity.

Inspiration for the fashion show – billed as “Off The Street” on Sunday 17 May from 12 noon to 3pm – came from homeless clients at the centre, including a dress designer and an architect, who has drawn up plans for creating a catwalk through the day centre and out into the garden.

Already clothes for the show are being lined up in a storeroom – and admired for their creativity by night shelter co-ordinator Marcin Nocek and support officer Kate Jack (see above).

“Fitting out rough sleepers with a new set of clothes and shoes is one of the ways we help homeless people regain their self-confidence,” said Marcin.

“We try to offer them something suitable from our storeroom of donated clothing and sometimes it can be fun trying something on. 

“The idea of holding a fashion show started as a joke, but one of the clients is a dress designer, another a seamstress and before we knew it, they were hard at work.

“After hours and hours at a sewing machine, they have already produced about 40 plus outfits, and they will all be revealed on the catwalk at the open day in May.”

Homeless architect Julian Meguenni (above) was delighted to have the chance to help stage the fashion show and do what he could do help other homeless clients at the centre show off the clothes which have been created.

Support workers and volunteers have all been amazed by the enthusiasm which has been generated by the prospect of organising and holding a fashion show.

“We know all too well that people who have been excluded and forgotten, and who have become homeless, need to rebuild their self-confidence.”

Support officer Kate Jack (above) says kitting people out with replacement clothes is one of their priorities and the charity relies on donations of clothing and shoes.

“We are continually short of clothing and delighted to accept donations.

“We are always in need of jeans, track suit bottoms, T-shirts, sweatshirts, winter coats, and clean underwear such as boxer shorts.

“Footwear is another item in constant demand, including a trainers, shoes and socks.”

HAB was established in 1997, having started out in North Finchley as a soup kitchen for the homeless and quickly expanded after Barnet Council leased the charity a community building in Woodhouse Road.

A constant stream of people – up to 250 a week – seek help at the day centre which offers support and comfort from 9am to 12.30pm on Monday to Friday.

The centre has its own shower block, a cafeteria offering breakfast or lunch, and a laundrette for washing clothes.

Support officer Kareema Osbourne (above) has been at the centre for two years.

“It is very fulfilling having the chance to help people turn around their lives”

In the last 12 months, HAB has held well over 4,000 support sessions for homeless people, building up trust and helping them address the underlying barriers they face.

A night shelter is provided for up to 15 people, seven days a week, during the winter months, from November to the end of April.

Last year over 5,000 rough sleepers spent the night in safety at a one of the participating churches or synagogues where an army of 360 volunteers provide food and support.

HAB also has two hostels for homeless people – offering over 50 places – and clients can stay there until they can arrange permanent accommodation. Last year 196 were rehoused and 49 so far this year.

Ben Tovey, HAB’s chief executive, said that demand for support from rough sleepers was higher than ever this year.

“Housing shortages, unaffordable rents and the overall economic situation aren’t helping but another reason why we are getting more showing up is because of the government policy to close asylum hotels.

“So, this is becoming a pressure point for charities helping the homeless.

“It is particularly hard for the under 35s as the rents being charged are beyond their housing allowances and benefits, and are based on a shared housing rate, which again is a big factor in pushing up the demand for support.”

Homeless in Action in Barnet to hold open day at is North Finchley day centre and highlight is fashion show of clothes made by those seeking support

The fashion show, “Off The Street” on Sunday 17 May, in aid HAB, will be a community event with local artisan stalls, a musical performance, a raffle and a chance for guests to mingle with clients and volunteers.

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Yellow line parking restrictions are excessive say residents who believe they have been treated with contempt by Barnet Council

Residents of two narrow streets of mainly small cottages and terraced homes claim they have been ignored and abandoned by Barnet Council which has imposed double yellow lines at the junction of Sebright and Calvert Roads without proper consultation.

They say ten-metre-long restrictions either side of the junction have reduced parking spaces and had the perverse effect of speeding up traffic round the corner, placing pedestrians and children at greater risk.

“The restrictions are disproportionate, unsupported by evidence and a waste of public funds.”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

At the heart of their grievance is their anger at finding that changes to procedures for local consultation have made it virtually impossible for small groups of residents to challenge council decisions.

In a letter to Cath Shaw, the council’s chief executive, they accuse the council of failing to honour one of its core values, an undertaking given by councillors regarding their responsibilities to the public:

“We actively listen, respond, collaborate and share ideas, to achieve the best outcomes with residents, businesses and colleagues.”

The letter, highlighting the need for TLC for Barnet – for transparency, for listening and for consultation – sets out how they believe the council has been systematically reducing the opportunities for residents to influence decisions.

Face to face residents’ forums with councillors and council officers were abandoned in 2022 and the minimum number of signatures required to present a petition at a council or committee meeting has been raised from 25 to 500.

Their complaint mirrors anger in Underhill where residents’ groups have complained that despite overwhelming opposition council officers have gone ahead with an extension to the Barnet Hospital controlled parking zone and introduced parking charges outside the Mays Lane parade of shops.

Mrs Louise Cain (above, second from right), one of the organisers of the Sebright and Calvert Roads protest, said that once the council decided to impose yellow lines on each side of the road junction they immediately set about raising a petition.

“We easily got to 72 signatures, understanding that the minimum requirement was over 25, but then the council said our petition had been excluded because the minimum is now 500 signatures.”

Dr Chris Nightingale (above, far right) said the new minimum of 500 signatures effectively withdrew a democratic right from small groups of residents who had already lost the ability to challenge councillors and officers face-to-face at residents’ forums.

“Our community – bounded by Sebright, Puller, Alston and Calvert Roads – only has around 400 households at the most so we have lost our voice as a small community.

“Petitions with fewer than 500 signatures only require a written response and we have lost the democratic right as residents to present a case directly to councillors at a committee or council meeting.”

Dr Julia Gibbs (above, second from right) feared that the rights of residents had been eroded still further by the barriers they faced when seeking greater transparency when making Freedom of Information requests.

“A recent FOI request we made was refused on the grounds it would be too expensive for the council as it would require 15 officers to spend over 90 minutes each to produce the information.

“This was challenged and the council took over 50 working days, longer than the statutory reply time of 20 days, to send a reply.

“But even then, the council would not provide the requested information or give specific advice on how to obtain it.”

Events leading up to the painting of the yellow lines had proved to the protesters that the council had not been serious about conducting detailed consultation.

As far as they knew, there had been no complaints from ambulance or fire crews about difficulty in gaining access and apparently the only request for yellow lines had come from a refuse lorry driver.

It appeared one resident had spoken to a council officer and another official who was challenged said the yellow lines were a parking and not a highways matter.

The group thought that yellow lines of the length painted at the junction would have been expected if there was heavy traffic.

Puller and Sebright Roads were a one-way system – with Calvert Road a short cul-de-sac – and the restrictions were excessive.

“The result is a monument to officers’ failure to listen and then not revealing how their final decision was made.

“The restrictions are disproportionate, unsupported by evidence and a waste of public funds.

“We are contemplating commissioning a blue plaque to this effect.”

The protestors hope their demand that the council should restore quarterly residents’ forums will become an issue at the forthcoming Barnet Council election on Thursday 7 May.

A priority for the new council elected in May should be to restore trust between residents and councillors and to improve decision-making by identifying problems early and locally.

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Rainbow Centre, Underhill’s community hub, celebrates its re-opening in refurbished premises provided by Barnet Council

After several years of uncertainty about its long-term future, Barnet Council has finally found new premises for the Rainbow Centre, a vital community hub for residents of Underhill and especially the Dollis Valley estate.

A weekly foodbank, free lunches and activities for children in school holidays, and highly popular mixed martial arts classes for youngsters and adults are just some of the centre’s activities.

At the official opening, the Mayor of Barnet, Councillor Danny Rich, was full of praise for the centre’s initiatives and congratulated those involved, including from left to right, centre manager Sarah Snell, and food bank volunteers Christine Burbridge and Karen Gosland.

Councillor Rich said he was delighted the Rainbow Centre’s move from Dollis Valley to the former Priory Grove Scout hut, off Westcombe Drive, next to the Ark Pioneer Academy, had gone so well.

“As an authority of 63 councillors we realise, we only achieve anything when we work with our residents, which is why as your landlords, we want to extend a big ‘thank you’ for all you are achieving for the community.”

Because of delays to the completion of the regeneration of the Dollis Valley estate, the Rainbow Centre was kept waiting to be rehoused and there was added grief for the volunteers when a proposed move to the former cricket pavilion in Barnet Lane fell through.

The move to the Scout hut went ahead late last year and the Rainbow Centre is building up its activities with the first free lunch club for school children being held in the week before Easter.

Rinbow Centre, community hub for Underhill, moves into new premises after years of uncertainty following action by Barnet Council

The centre is operated and managed by charity, Barnet Community Projects, and Mike Benaim, chair of its trustees (above, third from left) said the four-year wait for new premises had turned into something of a saga but they were “very happy” with their new home.

The centre’s Thursday food bank is currently supporting around 80 people who get three days’ worth of free food, including fresh fruit and vegetables and three meals.

Sarah Snell, centre manager (above, third from right) said Rainbow’s policy was to be there for whoever needed help.

No referral is needed to get assistance from the foodbank, just a name and postcode.

“We don’t want to turn anyone away, so if someone is prepared to seek help at a food bank, we are there for them. Making that first visit is often the hardest thing for someone to do,” said Sarah.

One of the Rainbow Centre’s great success stories is its mixed martial arts classes run three times a week by Ibush Januzi, founder of North London MMA Kabashi (above, seventh from right).

Classes for children attract up to 70 youngsters a week and adult classes up to 60. On Tuesdays there is a wrestling class and women’s self-defence on Saturdays.

“The response since we started has been amazing,” said Ibush.

“I am always keen to offer free classes to people who might have been in trouble, perhaps with drugs, or are homeless.

“These free sessions are very rewarding for those involved. The discipline of martial arts helps people who have been in trouble believe in themselves. They can see what they can achieve and realise they are not losers.”

Councillor Zahra Beg (above, sixth from right) added her thanks to the council for finally agreeing to the move.

Since she was elected for Underhill in 2022, finding a new home for the Rainbow Centre had been a major pre-occupation and she was delighted the move had finally been accomplished.

“We bullied the council into finding new premises and then we found the Scout hut needed lots of repairing, but it has all been worthwhile.

“The centre now has a new home for 25 years with the freedom to expand its services and bring in more people from in and around Underhill.”

Councillor Tim Roberts (above, fourth from left), who is standing down in May after serving Underhill for 12 years, said the official opening of a new home for Rainbow was a great way to finish.

“The Rainbow Centre really has been part of the Dollis Valley estate for such a long time.

“It has been a regular meeting place for so many of us and we are all delighted it is up and running once again here in Underhill.”  

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Food waste being collected on bin days from homes across Borough of Barnet to be used for producing electricity and farm fertiliser

With the reintroduction of domestic food waste collections from homes across the Borough of Barnet, families will be making their contribution towards generating electricity and producing liquid farmland fertiliser at a renewable energy plant midway between North Mymms and London Colney.

Barnet householders have been supplied with two new containers – a brown kitchen caddy for collecting food waste indoors and a larger brown outdoors food waste bin.

Food waste bins will be emptied at the kerbside into new collection vehicles hired by the council.

Collections will take place on a householder’s regular bin day.

Lorries will unload into a bunker at Severn Trent Green Power’s facility at Coursers Farm, just to the north of junction 22 on the M25 motorway.

Severn Trent Green Power opened the plant around ten years ago.

It serves towns and councils from a wide radius in Hertfordshire, including Hertsmere, and processes up to 75,000 tons of food waste a year, including some commercial waste.

  Once tipped at the plant all plastic from caddy liners, bags and wrappings is removed mechanically so that the food waste can be pumped into digester tanks where biogas is produced ready for the generation of electricity in site’s engines.

Severn Trent Green Power’s North London plant produces three megawatts of power for the National Grid at Coursers Farm.

Liquid fertiliser for farms, which is the residue of the process, is distributed for spreading in fields on local farms.

Barnet Council has reinstated food waste collections – as from a government deadline of Monday 30 March – as a result of new regulations requiring local authorities to collect food waste separately from other household waste.

A food waste collection service had operated in Barnet from 2013 until it was cancelled by the council in November 2018 – against the advice of the Mayor of London – in order to save an annual bill of £300,000.

Government capital grants – including £2.7 million for Barnet – have now been paid to local councils to meet the cost of new containers and collection vehicles.

New kitchen caddies and kerbside bins for Barnet householders have cost £1.3 million and food waste collection vehicles are being hired for five years from Riverside Truck Rental at a cost of £2.8 million.

Publicity for the reintroduction of the service includes advice on what to place in the food waste caddy – leftover food, peelings and waste from fruit, vegetables, meat, fish, dairy products, bread, cakes, tea bags, coffee grounds etc.

Special bins are being provided for household food waste from flats above town centre flats – as seen in Barnet High Process.

In the first part of the process at the Coursers Farm plant all plastic bags and coverings are removed. The plastic waste which is left is sent to separate waste-for-energy plants.

Food waste collections reintroduced by Barnet Council and it will be turned into electricity and farm fertiliser at Severn Trent Green Power plant just north of M25

Loads have to be rejected if they are contaminated with other waste such as bottles and cans.

Once the processed food waste has been reduced to a liquid – a food waste soup as it is known in the trade – it is pumped into one of four digestion tanks where it is heated to between 37 and 42 degrees, breaks down, and releases biogas for electricity generation.

From being tipped by a lorry, it takes around 85 days for the waste to be converted into gas and liquid fertiliser for spreading on fields.

To reduce odours escaping into the neighbourhood, air from the plant goes through a biofilter using a water filter and damp wood chips.

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A vintage Routemaster climbs Barnet Hill to terminate at the parish church – a moment to be celebrated by bus enthusiasts 

A special 263 Sunday service to Barnet Church – in support of Comic Relief – provided bus passengers a chance to step back in time and hop on board an iconic Routemaster.

Vintage buses plied the route from East Finchley to Barnet when North London Transport Events organised one of its popular charity services held three times a year.

Instead of paying a fare, passengers were asked instead to think of making a donation collected by the bus conductor.

Routemasters, which were built between 1954 and 1968 by AEC Park Royal Vehicles, were finally withdrawn from regular service in December 2005.

Watching a vintage 263 Routemaster climb Barnet Hill, turn at the church and then head back to East Finchley was an unusual sight (currently the 263 terminates at Barnet Hospital) — and was captured on camera by Stephen Bigley.

He said when Routemasters take to the road in support of fund-raising events, the organisers are always rewarded by seeing how local people are delighted to have a chance to travel on one of these classic buses

The ease with which passengers on a Routemaster can hop on and off was a moment to celebrated by bus enthusiast Helen Lewis who describes herself at Londonroutemistress (see above).

“Riding a Routemaster is such a contrast to today’s electric buses with their aircon and phone charging ports and a bell at every seat,” said Helen.

“There is no way of alerting the driver in advance that you wanted to get off if you were upstairs on the top deck, but let’s not forget how easy it was in those days to hop on and off.”

Helen has set herself a personal mission to travel every bus route run by London Transport. She researches a new route every week and then sets off.

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Packed programme of summer concerts announced by music festival organisers for Barnet orchestras and bands 

Summer concerts at Jack's Lake, Hadley Common, again a highlight for a packed programme of performances by Barnet orchestras and bands

Barnet’s music lovers are in for a feast of summer events with organisers announcing programmes for concerts right through to August including an annual highlight of four evening performances in the woods beside Jack’s Lake at Monken Hadley Common.

Since they were launched six years ago, there has been ever growing support for these open-air musical evenings which are held in a woodland glade and are organised by New Barnet opera singer Ilona Domnich.

As a prelude to the summer programme, there is a fund-raising concert for the Monken Hadley Common Trust at the Barnet parish church of St John the Baptist on Saturday 11 April (doors open 6pm)

The programme will include Vivaldi Four Seasons (Ilona Domnich, soprano; Charles Mutter, violinist; and Neil Varley, accordionist).

The summer concerts at Jack’s Lake are May 16 or 17; June 13 or 14; July 11 or 12; August 8 or 9.

High Barnet Chamber Music Festival is about to announce dates and venues for this summer’s four concerts, which will be held from June 6 to 28, and will include a family concert backed by Arts Council England.

This will be the chamber festival’s sixth season which has been expanded to include master classes and performances in primary and secondary schools.

North London’s concert band – Da Capo Concert Band – will be holding its summer concert at the Barnet parish church on Saturday 27 June.

For more information:

Jack’s Lake Summer Music Festival: https://ilonadomnich.com/projects/hadley-woods-festival-music-on-jacks-lake/

‘Prelude to Music by Jack’s Lake’ concert at St. John the Baptist Parish Church.

Saturday 11 April 11, 7pm Tickets £5 -£20 https://www.ticketsource.co.uk

High Barnet Chamber Music Festival: https://www.hbcmf.co.uk/

Da Capo Concert Band: https://www.dacapoconcertband.co.uk

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Protective shutters installed by Star Pubs to allow for essential work before Black Horse re-opens in time for summer  

Star Pubs say Black Horse public house will re-open by early summer in time for FIFA world cup televised matches -- and protective shutters needed during essential work

Star Pubs say they hope that the Black Horse – now protected by metal grilles across doors and windows – will reopen by at least mid-June in time for the start of televised football matches in the FIFA World Cup.

Several potential tenants are being interviewed by Star’s management team.

Improvements and other essential work are to be carried out to the interior in preparation for the re-opening of a pub which is an historic Barnet landmark.

But the closure of the Black Horse since last September is another indication of the precarious trading prospects for the licensed trade.

In a move to safeguard the long-term future of the Black Horse, Barnet Council has accepted a request for it to be protected by an order declaring the building an asset of community value.

Securing protection for the Black Horse – allowing the community the right to enter a bid if the pub is sold for redevelopment – follows the declaration of similar ACVs for three other nearby pubs, the Lord Nelson, Sebright Arms and Ye Olde Monken Holt, as well as the Prince of Wales in East Barnet.  

An application to safeguard the Black Horse was made in the name of the Barnet parish church of St John the Baptist and was backed by a petition launched by Olly Gough, who is to stand as a Labour candidate for High Barnet in the Barnet Council elections in May.

He said strong support for the petition proved that the Black Horse was much loved by the community and was especially popular with its customers, which was a reminder to Star Pubs that it had every chance of remaining a viable business.

High Barnet Councillor Emma Whysall, who supported the application when it was considered by Barnet Council, said she realised the depth of local concern about the future of the Black Horse should it cease trading once again in the future.

Councillor Whysall, who had been in contact with Star Pubs’ management, welcomed the company’s promise of swift action to ensure that the Black Horse is re-opened in time for the start of the World Cup in mid-June.

She said people should not be alarmed by the installation of grilles across the doors and windows. They were needed for added security and protection and were essential to secure the building while work was carried out.

Pubs have been granted extended opening hours for the month-long contest because of the late kick-offs – until 1am for national ties and until 2am should any of the home nations reach the knock-out stages.   

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Save Chipping Barnet Woodland campaigners delighted by planning refusal for new house in a protected wood close to Hadley Green

An application to build a six-bedroom house in a protected wood between Sunset View and Hadley Green has been rejected by Barnet Council on the grounds it would cause unacceptable harm to a woodland habitat.

Nearby residents mounted a highly publicised campaign to save what they argued was a significant wildlife corridor between the Green and Old Fold Manor golf course.

Over 2,000 people signed a petition against the application and there were multiple objections to the planning department.

Expressing delight at the result, Marianne Nix, one of the lead objectors, said their campaign to save the woodland would now refocus on efforts to ensure it is included in the Barnet Parks and Open Space strategy.  

In rejecting the application by Christchurchgrove Ltd, the council says building a house on a one-acre site in the woodland would damage the character and appearance of the Monken Hadley Conservation Area.

When the developers held a public consultation last year to unveil their plans for the proposed house – see above – Stuart Lees, of Alan Cox Architects, told residents steps would be taken to safeguard mature trees on the site, most of which are already covered by tree protection orders.

There would be other measures to enhance the biodiversity of the woodland and as the new house would be surrounded by trees, it would be hardly visible, which had been one of the aims in the design.

Planning permission was refused because the council considered it would result in the unjustified loss and deterioration of protected woodland and to a significant number of trees within a woodland tree protection order.

This would cause “unacceptable harm to the woodland habitat and to the character and appearance of the Monken Hadley Conservation Area.”

Site clearance and loss of vegetation would “irrevocably and harmfully” alter the woodland character, and the siting and size of the new house would appear to be “out of character and appearance” of the conservation area and general locality.

Christchurchgrove Ltd had failed to demonstrate that construction, access and essential services could be delivered in accordance with recognised industry guidance, including standards relating to underground service installation near trees.

“The development would further create substantial post development pressures for the removal and degradation of trees, deadwood, and ground flora, leading to the incremental erosion of the woodland’s ecological and landscape value.”

Application for house in wood close to Hadley Green has been rejected by Barnet Council because it would unacceptable harm to a woodland habitat.
Screenshot

If the new house had been approved the objectors feared that badgers, bats, mistle thrush and other protected species would be in danger of losing their habitat.

Marianne Nix, who lives next to the woodland, installed a trail camera in her garden when she moved to High Barnet three years ago.

As well as recording hedgehogs scuttling about, there have been shots of badgers – including the picture above, captured on her video camera last New Year’s Eve when fireworks were exploding near the woodland.

So far two of the veteran trees on the site have been verified by the Ancient Tree Register – which supplied the screen shot of Sunset View and the woodland.

Robin Bishop, Planning & Environment Lead for the Barnet Society, commented, “Although we’d worked with the developer and secured some important improvements, scrutiny of the submitted documents left us with many concerns. Ours was one of 279 objections lodged against the application, an impressive number for such an inconspicuous site.

“It’s timely that the Council’s refusal came a day after the Mayor of London published London’s Local Nature Recovery Strategy. Although the spinney isn’t on the LNRS Local Habitat Map, it adjoins Old Fold Manor Golf Course, which is. The LNRS and Barnet Couuncil’s refusal are milestones in growing public awareness of the inportance of nature in cities.”

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Barnet Council steps in with an exemption from council tax for residents who have a terminal diagnosis

Terminally ill householders in the London borough of Barnet will be removed from council tax if they qualify under a new relief scheme which takes effect in April.

Barnet, which has a higher proportion of the elderly than in much of the capital, will become one of the first London boroughs to ease financial pressures on residents with a terminal diagnosis.

Councillor Simon Radford, the council’s cabinet member for finance – see above – is anxious to promote the assistance which the council is offering when residents and their families face “the most difficult moments in their lives”.

If residents are already receiving council tax support – through discretionary relief or housing payment policies – they will not have to pay council tax if a clinician has confirmed a terminal diagnosis.

Charities have welcomed the move by Barnet – and other councils such as Manchester and Barnsley – which they say will help people cope with the emotional strain of end-of-life care by removing or reducing council tax from families who might be dealing with loss of income and increased care costs.

Barnet, which has the second largest population of any London borough, has over 22,000 residents aged over 80, including nearly 5,000 aged over 90.

High Barnet ward illustrates the significance of the age profile: over 2,000 residents are over 65 and 673 – roughly six per cent – are over 80.

Councillor Radford said the aim of the council and health authorities was to keep people in their own homes for as long as possible with care and support, so that they could maintain their independence.

There was more demand for adult social care in Barnet than in other London boroughs which underlined the need for the council to enhance its support for the terminally ill.

Marie Curie, the UK’s leading end-of-life charity hopes that more London boroughs – especially those in the north London care belt with numerous care homes – follow Barnet’s example in ensuring residents get clear and compassionate support.

Housing costs and council tax bills added to the financial pressures on those who are terminally ill and wished to continue living in their own homes.

Under the new criteria, Barnet residents may qualify for a council tax reduction if they receive council tax support and provide an SR1 medical form, completed by a clinician, confirming life expectancy is thought to be of 12 months or less.

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Bags of litter piled up after clean-up organised by Barnet Residents Association – and the town’s MP is urging more community action

Litters pickers from Barnet Residents Association fanned out across the town in one of the association’s regular clean ups – the kind of initiative which the Chipping Barnet MP Dan Tomlinson hopes will be encouraged by his new community action network.

Association co-chair Ken Rowland and committee member Emma Morgan – see above – cleared up litter in Bruce Road which backs on to the Waitrose car park and often gets overlooked in street cleaning.

However, they left Bruce Road feeling rather disappointed because they were not equipped to tackle a heap of builder’s rubbish which had been left by a recent fly-tipper.

Committee member Anna Watkins was on hand at the association’s stall in The Spires shopping centre ready to hand volunteers litter pickers and rubbish bags which had been supplied by Barnet Council.

The clean up was organised in partnership with the Chipping Barnet Town Team and was considered a great success – a heap of around 40 rubbish bags was left nearby at Chipping Barnet Library in Stapylton Road ready for collection by the council’s refuse service.

Among the volunteers were staff members from McDonald’s fast-food restaurant who also stage their own litter pick sessions.

Franchisee Hubs Backshi (above, second from left) said McDonald’s team members regularly did a litter sweep around the restaurant in the Barnet High Street and were keen to help whenever street clean-ups were organised.

Barnet Residents Association reports another successful litter picking clean up as Chipping Barnet MP Dan Tomlinson backs more community action

Litter picking was one of the targets discussed at a meeting organised by the Chipping Barnet MP Dan Tomlinson which went on to establish a community action network.

Over 200 people attended a discussion and workshop where an agenda was established for action next year.

Long-term projects include supporting East Barnet Festival and Community Energy Barnet.

Mr Tomlinson said he hoped the network could run a monthly community cation day.

“The focus of the network is making tangible differences to the local area through local action, whether that’s litter picking or organising a community festival,” said Mr Tomlinson.   

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Two deputations from Underhill challenge Barnet Councillors over their failure to consult residents and take local views into account

After hearing some vociferous complaints from Underhill residents, Barnet Council has agreed to review two controversial issues – the imposition of the Underhill South controlled parking zone and a decision to abandon the existing split between private and social housing in the regeneration of the Dollis Valley estate.

Two separate deputations explained their grievances and were assured by council leaders that officials would prepare reports into their objections.

A petition calling for a rethink on the extension of the Barnet Hospital CPZ to take in 16 roads around Chesterfield Road and Mays Lane was presented jointly by Gina Theodorou and Jon Woolfson – see above at the town hall, Hendon.

They claimed that the experimental CPZ was imposed by the council’s highways department despite opposition from 61 per cent of residents.

There was no justification for introducing parking charges other than to help the council recoup its parking deficit.

In response the council agreed on the recommendation of Councillor Alan Schneiderman, cabinet member for the environment, that officials would look at criticism of the way the Underhill South CPZ had been introduced.

There would be a full review of the scheme when the six-month consultation period ends in mid-June.

A second petition was presented by two members of a group of private houseowners in the Brook Valley Gardens development, off Mays Lane – see above – which is regenerating the former Dollis Valley estate.

They objected to the council’s agreement with developers Vistry to complete the two final stages of the regeneration with 221 social rent homes instead of continuing with a mix between privately owned and social housing.

By failing to honour the commitment that Brook Valley Gardens would be mixed tenure neighbourhood – and by turning it into 60 per cent social housing – the council had jeopardised the future of houseowners who had invested life savings into new properties.

Bulldozing through without consultation a deal with Vistry, the second largest housebuilder in the UK, and by failing to construct 128 private homes as originally promised, the council had changed the nature of Brook Valley Gardens.

A petition had been signed by 120 private householders who feared that a result of increasing the proportion of social housing from 40 to 60 per cent the council had threatened “a well-integrated community, increasing the risk of anti-social behaviour” all for the sake of the council getting access to Greater London Authority funding to help “bail-out” the developers.

In acknowledging their anger, Councillor Ross Houston, the cabinet member for homes and regeneration explained that the council’s objective was to demolish empty blocks of flats and maisonettes – see above – and secure the completion of the Dollis Valley regeneration through the construction of new well-designed homes.

On Councillor Houston’s recommendation, the council agreed it would ask officials to report back on the concerns which had been raised.

The deal proposed with Vistry would be reviewed at the next cabinet meeting which would consider whether any changes could be made in the current plans for the competition of phases four and five of the regeneration.

Deputations from Underhill complain to Barnet Council about imposition of Underhill South CPZ and changes in proportion of private housing in Dollis Valley regeneration

Opposition to the Underhill South CPZ has been mounting since it took effect in mid December with a concerted campaign by members of the Quinta Village Green Residents Association and the Underhill Residents Group.

In her submission Gina Theodorou of the QVGRA said experience since its introduction had proved there was no justification for a CPZ as most of the parking bays were empty most of the time. Residents were leaving cars in their drives rather than apply for a permit.

Jon Wolfson of Underhill Residents raised the plight of retailers in the Mays Lane parade of shops who were losing a substantial amount of business because of the introduction of parking charges on their service road.

A petition had raised over 2,200 signatures in protest at the imposition of cashless parking charges at a tariff of £3.38 an hour from 8am to 6.30pm whereas in nearby roads, which are also within the Barnet Hospital D CPZ, restrictions apply only between 2pm and 3pm.

There was support for the Underhill petition from Councillor Richard Cornelius who agreed with the deputation that parking regulations imposed around Barnet Hospital were “a complete mess”.

“I hope this CPZ is reconsidered because the overwhelming opposition shows it cannot be right and as someone who parks outside the Mays Lane parade of shops I don’t see why parking charges are necessary”.       

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New studio is under construction for Barnet Guild of Artists in a field that was once part of Whalebones farm and estate

Work has started on foundations for a new studio which is being built for the Barnet Guild of Artists as part of the housing development which is underway in the Whalebones fields and woodland off Wood Street, Barnet.

A new building for community use was included in the go-ahead for an estate of 112 homes which is under construction by Hill Residential.

The new artists’ studio will be in Wellhouse Lane, directly opposite Barnet Hospital car park and bus terminus.

It replaces a studio bequeathed for the guild’s use by the late Gwyneth Cowing, former owner of Whalebones House, who was granddaughter of the founder of the Barnet Press and who died in 1987.

Hill Residential completed purchase of the Whalebones woods and fields after planning approval was finally granted in late 2024 following a protracted campaign by objectors who included the Barnet Society and the former Chipping Barnet MP Theresa Villiers.

They argued that the new housing estate would destroy a significant wildlife habitat and result in the loss of the last remaining farmland between Arkley and High Barnet.

Most of the new homes are to be built in the largest of the fields opposite the Arkley public house, between the Elmbank estate and the woods around the now privately owned Whalebones House.

The land falls away to Wellhouse Lane and in the lower part of the development there will be three six-storey blocks providing 70 flats.

In the upper part of the site, facing Wood Street, there will be 42 new houses.

Martyn Jelley, senior site manager, told a residents’ consultation meeting that the whole scheme is due to be completed in by the end of 2028. The first new homes could be ready to move in by the end of 2027.

He said Hill Residential had taken great care to save as much of the woodland as possible and there was only one additional tree to be felled and a decision on that was being left until the spring for the result of a survey to see if the tree is being used as a roost for bats.

Work has started on new studio for Barnet Guild of Artists on farmland at Whalebone as part of residential development to provide 112 new homes

Nearby residents were shown visualisations of houses on the new estate at a consultation meeting.

A start on the construction of the new artists’ studio in Wellhouse Lane was welcomed by Helen Leake, secretary and treasury of the guild of artists.

While waiting for the new building to be completed, guild members would continue to use the timber-framed studio which was built by Miss Cowing, and which will eventually be demolished to make way for new houses.