A new book exploring the history of Queen Elizabeth’s School — or QE Boys as it is affectionately known — is to be published in March next year.
New book to be published on 450-year history of High Barnet’s historic grammar school
Category: News
Vacant premises in Barnet High Street are providing yet another new home for squatters
Squatters have taken over empty offices in Barnet High Street — just weeks after a group departed from a similar squat in a former restaurant.
Christmas shoppers urged to respond to appeal for products urgently needed by Chipping Barnet foodbank
Chipping Barnet’s foodbank is experiencing a surge in demand: the number of households dependent on food parcels has almost doubled since the summer and an appeal has gone out to Christmas shoppers to donate what they can.
Proposals for a car-free, tree-lined mews of terraced houses close to Barnet High Street
A scheme which is being proposed by Barnet Homes could transform the top end of Moxon Street be creating a car-free mews with two rows of terraced houses to provide a total of 21 new homes.
A do-it-yourself course in festive wreath making brought some Christmas spirit to Barnet High Street
An evening session for designing and making Christmas wreaths brought a festive spirit to a community pop-up event at the Chipping Work Shop in Barnet High Street.
Theresa Villiers succeeds with fellow Conservative MPs in thwarting government-imposed housing targets
Local authorities will have greater freedom about implementing government housing targets following a Conservative revolt in the House of Commons led by the Chipping Barnet MP Theresa Villiers.
Transport for London working on plans to replace 84-bus service between Barnet and Potters Bar
Barry Rawlings, Labour leader of Barnet Council, is increasingly hopeful of a breakthrough in the campaign to the get the restoration of the 84-bus service between Barnet and Potters Bar.
Barnet’s Christmas Fayre “bigger and better” than ever says Mayor of Barnet
Despite a cold, grey day the Mayor of Barnet Councillor Alison Moore got the annual Barnet Christmas Fayre off to a flying start by cutting the ribbon in the middle of the High Street.
Continue reading Barnet’s Christmas Fayre “bigger and better” than ever says Mayor of Barnet
New Year opening for new Poundland store in The Spires shopping centre, Barnet
Two vacant retail unts in The Spires, Barnet, are to be taken over as the site for one of the revamped Poundland stores which are being opened in shopping malls and town centres across the country.
Continue reading New Year opening for new Poundland store in The Spires shopping centre, Barnet
How drivers around Barnet will have to adjust when London’s Ultra-Low Emissions Zone takes effect next year
Four key roads serving High Barnet — which are just within the borough boundary — have been excluded from the new vehicle emissions zone for the whole of Greater London.
Sixty stalls, a children’s funfair, and display of classic cars will fill High Street for annual Barnet Christmas Fayre
A children’s competition which is being organised with the help of shops along the High Street is part of the promotional build-up for this year’s Barnet Christmas Fayre on Sunday 4 December.
Homes around Barnet with dire broadband are being offered super-fast fibre connections by Swedish company
Householders in roads in Mill Hill, Arkley, High Barnet, and Hadley Wood are being offered a free connection if they sign up to a Swedish company which is installing a new fibre broadband service.
Fears about harmful impact of 24-hour gambling a deciding factor against Barnet High Street gaming centre
Planning approval has been refused for opening an adult gaming centre in the former TSB bank building on Barnet High Street.
Bid to get Barnet Council to introduce more 20 mph speed limits to improve road safety for pedestrians
A one-woman road safety campaign to persuade Barnet Council to consider introducing 20 mph speed limits on all residential roads in the borough was going nowhere until the issue was raised at a Living Streets event organised by the Barnet Society.
High Street’s latest hospitality offers: a space exhibition, real ale, live music, and a cafe-bar with a literary theme
With public houses said to be closing at the rate of one a day across the country, licensed premises along Barnet High Street are doing what they can to buck the trend, each with a distinctive offer to potential customers.
Vindication claimed by New Barnet blogger in nine-year campaign challenging Barnet’s Capita contract
As more of Barnet Council’s services are withdrawn from outsourcing contractors Capita, New Barnet community activist John Dix feels increasingly vindicated that his “sniff test” was correct: that the Capita deal was a costly mistake for the council taxpayers of Barnet.
After another setback developers advised to work with New Barnet residents rather than against them
An application to build 13 blocks of flats on the former gas works site in New Barnet has ended in another embarrassing defeat.
Chipping Barnet MP condemns top-down pressure for “so many” blocks of flats in her constituency
Theresa Villiers blames government house building targets for putting pressure on local councils to accept “entirely inappropriate” high-rise developments in suburban neighbourhoods like Barnet.
Empty Barnet High Street restaurant — plus squatters — is on the market for possible residential development
Squatters who have taken over a former restaurant in Barnet High Street might soon be having to contend with a new owner of the property. The three-storey building is in the process of being sold with a guide price of £875,000.
High Court to rule on latest twist in long running saga over New Barnet’s troubled gas works site
A fourteen-year dispute about redeveloping the former gas works site in New Barnet is about to kick off again in the High Court when housebuilders Citystyle Fairview will try to overturn the decision of a planning inspector.
Further expansion planned as new film and television studios at Borehamwood due to open in New Year
There has been widespread support from within the film and television industry for a planning application to almost double the size of the Sky Studios Elstree complex which is currently nearing completion at Borehamwood.
Licence agreed for Barnet High Street gaming machines, but objectors say all is still to play for
A bingo premises licence has been approved for a former bank building in Barnet — but the key decision has yet to be taken on whether Barnet Council will give planning permission for an adult gaming centre in the High Street.
Abandoned Green Belt fields in Mays Lane being prepared for arrival of therapy horses
Clearing years of accumulated rubbish and litter from derelict farmland off Mays Lane, Barnet, is another step towards establishing a new equine therapy centre for troubled youngsters.
New operator of The Spires car park says its “state-of-the-art” pay machines are user friendly
Britannia Parking has taken over from NCP as the operator of the multi-storey car park at The Spires shopping centre in High Barnet.
Police reassurance after action to deal with two “frightening” incidents in Barnet town centre
After violent incidents on two successive Saturday afternoons — an imitation firearm was brandished in the High Street and a stabbing in the nearby recreation ground — there could hardly have been a more opportune moment for some reassuring words from High Barnet’s Safer Neighbourhood Team.
Appeal launched to restore Hadley Green’s historic water fountain by the spring of next year
A crowdfunding campaign has been started to help meet extra expenditure involved in plans to restore Hadley Green’s pink marble drinking fountain which has been out of order for the last 50 years.
Images of Chipping Barnet’s historic town centre feature in newspaper reports and television news bulletins
Barnet’s former town hall, which is now the North London Coroner’s Court, has been a backdrop for television news reports and press photographs that have gone round the world.
Retirement of popular trader and imminent loss of Barnet High Street’s very own Aladdin’s cave
Julian Stewart, the longest serving independent trader in Barnet High Street, is about to retire after 43 years in business.
Time running out to save No 33
Following the dismissal of an appeal to demolish 33 Lyonsdown Road and replace it with 20 flats, we thought its future would be safe – but we were wrong. It’s scheduled for demolition on 1 October 2022. Since 2017, we’ve campaigned to save this beautiful Victorian villa, and in 2020 succeeded in getting it added to Barnet’s Local Heritage List.
Yet due to a bizarre loophole in planning law, Abbeytown Ltd, the property development arm of Martyn Gerrard estate agents, was able to apply to demolish the building without any proposal to replace it.
We sought urgent advice from a solicitor specialising in historic buildings to help formulate a detailed objection. Sadly, the planners took a different view of the case and on 22 June approved the applications.
How could this demolition be allowed?
At present, No.33 is on Barnet’s Local List, which is the lowest tier of designation for historic buildings. We’ve twice applied to Historic England for it to be added to the National List, without success.
Unfortunately, unless locally listed buildings are in conservation areas, they’re not immune to Permitted Development Rights, which have been greatly expanded by the government in recent years and do not require full planning applications. The shocking decision to allow the demolition of 33 Lyonsdown Road was made, Barnet Council has admitted, ‘by default’. It was not taken on the merits of the case, nor was it referred to the Planning Committee; nor were Councillors informed.
Local residents and national conservation bodies including The Victorian Society and SAVE Britain’s Heritage are horrified that the Council is allowing demolition of one of the finest buildings in New Barnet. The case has featured twice in Private Eye.
The situation is also an embarrassment to Barnet’s new Labour Council. For it to lose a building on the Local List, with the needless release of embodied carbon that demolition would cause, soon after it declared a climate emergency is not the start it would have wanted.
Events since permission for demolition
We took legal advice on the available options but concluded that we did not have sufficient funds for judicial review.
On 11 August, several of us met two senior planners and all three Barnet Vale ward Councillors to express our concerns about the way demolition had been approved. We explained why we considered the decision to be unsound. The councillors were also upset that they hadn’t been notified.
We reminded the planners that we had urged them to give protection for 33 Lyonsdown Road by means of an Article 4 Direction as long ago as February 2021, when the last planning application was refused. This would have closed off the Permitted Development route and is used routinely in conservation areas. Councils around the country have imposed, or are in the process of imposing, Article 4 Directions to prevent demolition. The planners and Councillors agreed to consider similar action in Barnet.
Theresa Villiers MP attended a demonstration outside No 33 in August. She has also written asking the developers for a meeting
We’ve written an open letter to Abbeytown to ask them to consider the scope for a conversion scheme. Theresa Villiers MP has also stepped in. In August she attended a protest outside No.33 and wrote asking for a meeting with the developers. To date, there has been no response to her or our approaches.
Alternative scheme
The Society has argued all along that this striking landmark building with its elegant interiors and rich history should not be demolished but repaired and converted to flats. We, local residents and the property guardians who lived there until last year are convinced that such a well-built house could be repaired. There’s scope for a sympathetic new-build element in the garden among the splendid trees. All agree that another block of flats is not what we want to see.
Simon Kaufman, who is an architect as well as a Committee Member of the Society, generously offered his services – at short notice and pro bono – to sketch a scheme along these lines. His bird’s-eye view is illustrated below.
Find out more about Simon and his work at www.simonkaufmanarchitects.com (contact: design@simonkaufmanarchitects.com)
In a 16-page report, Simon analyses the existing building and its potential for conversion, showing that it could accommodate 6 to 8 flats while retaining most of its impressive interiors. He also demonstrates that a further 7 to 9 flats could be built in a new building in the garden – a potential total of 17 flats. That’s almost the same quantity that Abbeytown proposed in their last (unsuccessful) planning application, but with the bonus that the proportion of high-end ‘period’ refurbished flats would fetch a premium.
Simon’s indicative appraisal shows that, when taking into account demolition costs and additional sales value of homes in the historic building, the overall financial margin for his scheme is very similar to – if not better than – the 2020 proposal. Moreover, by setting the new-build to the side of, and behind, the existing building and at a lower height, the quality and character of the original villa would be unimpaired. The new building would be sympathetic to its venerable neighbour in both materials and details.
Although building in the garden would entail the loss of a small number of trees, the damage to the neighbourhood would be substantially less than Abbeytown proposed and far more likely to receive community support.
We sent a copy of Simon’s report to Abbeytown.
The importance of this case
Conserving our architectural and natural heritage is a core Society priority. We’re proud of having nominated many architecturally and historically significant buildings for the Local List. When the demolition of No.33 was approved, we realised the same could happen to many others on the List.
What next?
The Society waits with interest to see Abbeytown’s or Martyn Gerrard’s reaction to our alternative scheme. We stand ready to help take this to the next stage. Planning officers told us they would welcome a pre-application discussion of an alternative scheme.
We are also continuing to press the Council to impose an Article 4 Direction protecting buildings which are on the Local List but outside conservation areas from demolition.
All weather paths will make it easier to tour Barnet Environment Centre’s green oasis off Byng Road
Barnet Environment Centre is celebrating the official opening of its newly installed fully accessible paths around the perimeter of its seven-and-a-half-acre nature reserve off Byng Road.
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