News from The Barnet Society

A childhood dream about Punch and Judy led on to a lifetime’s interest in glove puppets which earned the accolade of professor for Barnet’s celebrated Punch and Judy puppeteer Geoff Barrett. He can look back on fifty years’ entertaining countless generations of local children.

Above is a visualisation of the new 6-bedroom house proposed by its designers, Alan Cox Architects, in secluded woodland barely 200 metres from Barnet High Street. The site is described by the applicants as ‘unkempt’, and by locals petitioning against development as a ‘wildlife haven’. The site is within the Monken Hadley Conservation Area and close to the Green Belt. Some trees have individual Tree Preservation Orders; however all the trees are protected by the conservation area status. The application is a test of Barnet Council’s commitment to protecting the environment. You can comment on the proposals until Thursday 5 February.

A short list of four or five possible locations for a new stadium for Barnet Football Club is now being considered in depth by supporters of the Bring Barnet Back campaign after lengthy discussions with Barnet councillors and planners.

High Barnet and New Barnet are two of ten districts within the London Borough of Barnet which are on a wish list of potential sites for a new Marks and Spencer food hall. M&S plans to double its number of stores across the country and has named 197 possible locations within Greater London.

New signs outside The Gate public house at Arkley have resulted in the disappearance of a much-loved historical pub motto which used to adorn a miniature five-bar gate that has been the inn’s trademark for probably a couple of centuries.

After yet another move Barnet’s popular free book shop is up and running once again in The Spires Shopping Centre. Lead volunteer Jackie O’Brien – above right with volunteer Mark Shepherd – says it is brilliant being able offer free books once again after having had to close the shop over Christmas and the New Year.

With binoculars at the ready the Mayor of Barnet Councillor Danny Rich paid his first ever visit to the Barnet Environment Centre in Byng Road, congratulating volunteers for establishing a “fantastic educational resource” for local children.

Four entries from Barnet Classic Car Club had a prime spot in London’s New Year’s Day parade – gaining praise in the live television coverage on Sky News for adding some royal glamour to the event. A look-alike King and Queen in the front of Derrick Haggerty’s 1955 Ford Popular were a surprise attraction.

Barnet Council has intervened to see if a tenant can be found for vacant community space on the ground floor of a block of flats which were built in Salisbury Road after the demolition of the former Fern Room, once the home of Barnet Old People’s Welfare Committee.

Householders might be forgiven for thinking they are living in a time warp in the coming weeks when Barnet Council starts to deliver homes with two containers ready for the re-introduction of a weekly food waste collection and recycling service which begins again in March.

High Barnet’s latest controlled parking zone took effect in Underhill in the week before Christmas sparking a furious response from residents as well as staff and parents at Whitings Hill Primary School.

High Barnet’s popular and well supported free bookshop has had to close unexpectedly because a new tenant is ready to move into their premises at The Spires shopping centre. Volunteers who immediately had to remove for storage their stock of donated books are hoping that another vacant unit might be offered for their use.

Fine period houses in their own sizeable grounds and gardens are a feature of the tree lined roads and footpaths around Hadley Green – all adding to the character of the Monken Hadley Conservation Area.

Arkley has a new claim to fame – its top two football clubs are now in the same division and when they play each other their home matches are thought to be the closest local derby among leading English football leagues.

An orchestra, two choirs and a brass ensemble filled the chancel of Barnet parish church for the Christmas carol service held by Queen Elizabeth’s Girls’ School. Father Sam Rossiter, team vicar of St John the Baptist, thanked the school’s musicians and choristers for a “magnificent evening” of music.

After a nearly three-hour Strategic Planning Committee meeting this evening, Barratt London’s planning application for 283 flats on High Barnet Station car park was refused on grounds of excessive height and harm to local context (see jtp Architects & Masterplanners visualisation above). It’s a magnificent vindication for the 802 Barnet residents who objected to it.

Students at Totteridge Academy have designed a sensory maze garden to be developed at GROW, the school’s on-site community farm and the aim is to have it planted and ready for opening by the spring.

Local developer Christchurch Grove Ltd expects to submit a planning application soon to build a house within existing woodland on the east side of Christchurch Lane (see plan above by Helene Landscape and Garden Design). It raises an increasingly urgent question in Barnet: how much, if any, green space should be sacrificed for new homes?

One of New Barnet’s last remaining large Victorian villas – 33 Lyonsdown Road – is being demolished much to the disappointment of community and heritage groups who fear it will be replaced by blocks of flats.

Thanks to the assistance of Citizens Advice Barnet, the Chipping Barnet Foodbank is reporting real progress in its long-term aim of reducing people’s dependency on supplies of groceries and essential household items.