News from The Barnet Society

The Barnet Society’s Planning & Environment Committee has studied closely the latest design proposals exhibited at The Spires on 12 & 15 April. This is a once-in-a-generation chance to revitalise our town centre, but it risks being wasted. Frankly, we’re disappointed.

Local authority cutbacks across North London and Hertfordshire are reinforcing the need for strong and effective civic organisations -- and have provided the impetus for a close working relationship between the Barnet Society and the Enfield Society.

When the owners of The Spires shopping centre unveiled revised plans to redevelop much of their High Barnet site with blocks of flats up to six storeys high, there was a barrage of challenging, even hostile questions. Householders in adjoining streets feared their homes would get less daylight and be overlooked.

A chorus of "Restore the 84" was the chant of 40 or so angry passengers who assembled at the bus terminus at The Spires, High Barnet, to campaign for the restoration of the 84 bus service between New Barnet and Potters Bar.

A group of High Barnet retailers are demonstrating yet again the ability of the High Street to reinvent itself. A ground-breaking zero waste shop, Kronos and Rhea, which was forced to close last year, is now about to become a boutique for three traders who have combined forces to re-open the empty premises.

A year after the death of a Barnet author of children's stories, her first book - Odd Fox Out - has been published by her husband Tony Barnes and its publication was celebrated with a launch party at Waterstones book shop in The Spires.

After consultations with nearby residents, neighbouring organisations and other users of Byng Road playing fields, an application has now been submitted for planning permission for a new two-storey clubhouse for Barnet Elizabethans Rugby Club.

Yet another revised scheme to build houses and flats on the woods and farmland at Whalebones in Wood Street, High Barnet, has been shown to local residents at a public exhibition held by the estate's trustees and their developers Hill Residential.

Irving Wardle, one of the most distinguished theatre critics of his generation, who in recent years appeared in several theatrical productions at The Bull Theatre in High Barnet, has died at the age of 93.

Enjoy a glass of locally brewed craft beer or real ale for a final few afternoons and evenings at the Urban Alchemy bar in the Chipping Work Shop in Barnet High Street before its last day of trading on Sunday 26 March.

Developing Barnet as "a borough of fun" is the objective of Barnet Council and to help achieve this there are to be increases in the number of people who are allowed to attend events in some of the borough's 200 parks and open spaces.

A fresh application to redevelop some of the woods and farmland at Whalebones in Wood Street, High Barnet -- but this time with fewer new homes -- is about to be made on behalf of the trustees of the estate.

Barnet appears to be leading the way among outer London boroughs in the speed with which cameras and equipment is being installed by Transport for London for the introduction of the Ultra-Low Emissions Zone which will impose a £12.50-a-day levy on older vehicles.

With persistent warnings of shortages of fresh vegetables there seems to be even greater enthusiasm for grow-your-own produce -- and that was certainly the vibe at an event organised by Barnet's Incredible Edible campaign aimed at encouraging home cultivation in gardens and on unused land.

For 30 years Queen Elizabeth's School, Barnet -- which is celebrating its 450th anniversary -- was at the apex of a clash between opposing education policies which were being pursued by Labour and Conservative governments, and which at the time split the country.

Despite the pace of new building in Barnet, most of our existing homes fall well below the environmental standards we need to meet to avoid climate catastrophe.

Join the Barnet Society for a fun evening, of delicious food, a raffle and a chance to meet like minded people to talk about local issues. On Tuesday 21 March at 7pm we will be holding a fundraising dinner at Melange 135 High Street in High Barnet.

Tributes from former colleagues, fans and fellow sports journalists to the legendary BBC football commentator John Motson have been reflecting on his fondness for Barnet Football Club where the young Motson cut his teeth as a cub reporter on the Barnet Press.

Action to thwart the onward advance of tower blocks around High Banet and close to the Green Belt was a shared objective of a panel of politicians and architects at a Barnet Society discussion on future housing needs.

A steep increase in crimes recorded by the police in and around High Barnet during the last 12 months -- and especially since the start of the year -- is a matter of real concern says the group that monitors the response of the town's Safer Neighbourhood Team.