News from The Barnet Society

High Barnet’s feline celebrity, Millie the Waitrose cat, might well re-appear early next year – in the shape of a small bronze statue by local sculptor John Somerville.

A petition has been launched to try to persuade Barnet Council to improve road safety between the Spires shopping centre and Chipping Barnet library by upgrading the pedestrian crossing so that it is controlled by traffic lights.

Mature trees are to be kept and the multi-storey blocks of flats to be built around High Barnet tube station have been reduced in height, but there is still to be a drastic reduction in the number of car parking spaces.

Barnet parish church of St John the Baptist is to host an evening hustings meeting for the general election on Thursday 5 December for candidates in the Chipping Barnet parliamentary constituency.

Applications to install another three super-size phone boxes with illuminated advertising panels in Barnet High Street have been turned down by Barnet Council on the grounds they would be detrimental to the character of the town centre and a potential danger to pedestrians and road users.

A community farm being established next to Totteridge Academy held a well-attended half-term family day when parents, pupils and children joined working parties to help prepare land and start planting.

Barnet Council is asking for the views of residents on plans to introduce an annual charge for the fortnightly collection of household garden waste. If the charge is agreed – saving the council £700,000 a year – only green bins with a special sticker will continue to be collected.

Transport for London and developers Taylor Wimpey have reduced significantly their original plans to redevelop land in and around High Barnet station with five-storey blocks of flats. Plans have now been dropped for two of seven blocks of flats.

A new venue and an impressive entry of paintings and drawings has provided a boost for the 71st. annual show organised by the Barnet Guild of Artists.

Parents at three nursery schools in the Barnet Early Years Alliance have joined a campaign to try to get secure and adequate funding in the face of further cuts being imposed as a result of pressure on Barnet Council to reduce spending on schools.

After establishing themselves as The Bull Players a yeaFirst night success for High Barnet drama groupr ago, members of High Barnet’s newly formed amateur dramatic group had the satisfaction of performing to a sell-out Saturday night show at the Bull Theatre.

Final rehearsals and editing are underway for a Son et Lumiere production at Monken Hadley Church which will celebrate the 525th anniversary of the church’s restoration and which takes its inspiration from the history of Barnet.

Barnet Council is investigating complaints by local residents that the newly opened Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice has extended its car park to include a pedestrian grass verge along the road leading to the Byng Road environment centre, playing fields and allotments.

A Barnet Museum information sign that told the history of the coaching taverns that once lined Barnet High Street was removed within days after Barnet Council’s highways department declared it was a hazard for pedestrians.

Another three telephone boxes with illuminated advertisements are being proposed for Barnet High Street – much to the anger of residents who fear they will add to street clutter just when the pavements are being widened to make it easier for shoppers.

A packed programme of productions has been lined up for the coming months at the Bull Theatre, High Street, Barnet, to help raise £8,000 that is still outstanding for the cost of new seating.

Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London, officially opened the Ark in Byng Road, Barnet – the new £8.5 million state-of-the-art children’s hospice that will support children with life-limiting and life-threatening conditions in north and central London and Hertsmere.

Some last-minute polishing and then bonnets were up, engines ready for inspection, as enthusiasts crowded into the basement of the Spires car park for the sixth annual show of the Barnet Classic Car Club.

New Barnet’s new leisure centre and library – complete with a 25 metre six-lane swimming pool and a state-of-the-art gym – was opened by the Mayor of Barnet, Councillor Caroline Stock Two new leisure centres, one at the Victoria Recreation Ground, New Barnet, and another at Copthall, Mill Hill, which together cost £44.9 million, both opened

A school and community farm in a six-acre field next to Totteridge Academy is a step closer to being established after the success of a fund-raising appeal.