News from The Barnet Society

New look for Spires shopping centre: a continental cafe-style culture for Barnet High Street? A computer-generated image released by the Williams Pears property group gives an impression of the proposed new-look entrance to the Spires shopping centre and an outside seating area in front of a new Carluccio’s restaurant.

A new layout for High Barnet’s bus stops could benefit passengers and speed up traffic flow.  Transport for London has been asked to consider reorganising the bus stops at the top of Barnet Hill in order to reduce traffic congestion around Barnet parish church and to provide easier access for bus passengers.

An imaginative array of ideas for reviving Barnet’s shopping centre was outlined at the Barnet Society’s annual question and answer session with the Chipping Barnet MP Mrs Theresa Villiers.

Barnet Museum is staging a display of instruments and memorabilia belonging to Barnet Band, thought to be the oldest musical group in the London Borough of Barnet, which is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year.

Local historians are busy researching the lives of Barnet men who lost their lives in the First World War.  The aim is to compile as many life histories as possible in support of a special exhibition which is being organised by Barnet Museum to commemorate the centenary of the Great War.

Hopes have been dashed of getting approval for an early start to an archaeological excavation to determine the precise site of the Battle of Barnet of 1471.   An application for funding has been rejected by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Two designs for a new High Street entrance to the Spires shopping centre – one of which would be without the two original spires of Barnet Methodist Church – are now on public display and open for consultation. But Barnet residents have only a matter of days to give their reaction.

A long-awaited meeting between Theresa Villiers MP and senior executives of British Telecom has still left unanswered many of the questions about when – or if ever – many High Barnet residents will be offered a superfast broadband connection.

Is Barnet in danger of losing another historic link with the past?  The well house protecting the town’s famous physic well is looking decidedly the worse for wear.  Masonry is falling away, one of the walls is disfigured by graffiti and there is not even a sign or notice to say that this is the well

Like much of the south-east of England, Chipping Barnet is seeing a rapid rise in home extensions and offices being converted into flats.  An easing of planning restrictions has given home-owners and property developers greater freedom.  But are large home extensions an intrusion for neighbours?

Local residents who are against plans for tree-felling and landfill on the site of Old Fold Manor Golf Club off Hadley Green have been promised the support of the Chipping Barnet MP Theresa Villiers.

Rambles Round Barnet 2 went on sale for the first time at the Christmas Fair on Sunday 1st December 2013.

New recycling service: an eyewitness report from a Barnet Society member. High Barnet householders have been told they should become their own recycling monitors and report back to Barnet Council on the efficiency of the new service for collecting recyclable refuse.

An application is to be made to the Heritage Lottery Fund to see if it would agree to pay for an archaeological dig to try to locate the precise site of the 1471 Battle of Barnet.