News from The Barnet Society

After years of campaigning and fund-raising, work has finally started on the construction of new headquarters and facilities for the Barnet Countryside Centre in Byng Road.

Barnet Museum is to take the lead in a fresh application to the Heritage Lottery Fund for a grant towards the cost of an archaeological dig to determine the site of the Battle of Barnet of 1471.

Planning vote goes against Guns & Smoke.  Guns & Smoke, a new American-style bar and grill opposite Barnet parish church, has failed to obtain planning permission for its illuminated frontage in Church Passage.

Rehearsals have begun at the Barnet parish church of St John the Baptist for the first of this year’s concerts by the Da Capo Concert Band which was established in 1997 for amateur adult musicians in north London and Hertfordshire.

High Barnet’s much-coveted green belt is to be featured in a seven-minute television documentary being filmed by students from City University’s department of journalism. Their assignment is to explore the pressure to develop green belt land around London, given the growing demand for new housing.

High Barnet’s “impossible” parking controls are forcing another independent trader out of the High Street. Hadley Hounds, a dog grooming parlour established five years ago, is having to leave and find new premises in Whetstone because difficulties over parking have proved the “final straw” for proprietor Eve Fox.

Guns & Smoke, the new American-style bar and grill opposite Barnet parish church, faces what looks like being a decisive shoot-out at Hendon Town Hall early in the new year.

A children’s skating rink was one of the many attractions at the two-day Christmas in the Park at the Old Courthouse recreation ground in High Barnet. A series of events have been held this year since the reopening of the Old Courthouse cafe, but this was by far the most ambitious to date.

Dr Gillian Gear, Barnet Museum’s archivist, was invested with the Order of the British Empire at a ceremony at the Tower of London last November. She was awarded the British Empire medal in the Queen’s 2014 Birthday Honours in recognition of her work safeguarding the museum and her support for local history projects.

The Mayor of Barnet, Councillor Hugh Rayner, has signed up to be kept informed of progress in the Barnet Society’s campaign for an hour’s free parking.

A campaign to get Barnet Football Club to return to the town in a new purpose-built stadium is to be stepped up, after what local supporters believe could be some promising signs.

Theresa Villiers MP, Gordon Massey (Chair of BRA) and Councillor David Longstaff all oppose the petition Councillor David Longstaff has joined Mrs Theresa Villiers MP and Gordon Massey, chairman of Barnet Residents Association, in opposing the Barnet Society’s petition calling for an hour’s free parking to help win back shoppers to the High Street.

Another two independent traders are being forced out of the High Street by a combination of high rents and the chronic difficulties faced by shoppers confronted by High Barnet’s expensive and inordinately complicated parking regime.

A mini-roundabout and an additional zebra crossing are being proposed by Barnet Council to improve road safety for motorists and pedestrians at the junction of Wood Street and Wellhouse Lane. A £232,000 road improvement scheme prepared by the Council’s in-house consultancy Capita is now out for consultation.

Barnet High Street 2014 The depth of local anger, frustration and even despair at the damage being inflicted on Barnet’s shopping centre is highlighted yet again in comments in support of the Barnet Society’s petition calling on Barnet Council to allow an hour’s free parking.

A packed programme has been arranged for this year’s Barnet Christmas Fair on Sunday 7 December when, instead of traffic, there will be music and dancing in the High Street and a vast array of stalls and attractions in nearby venues.

Theresa Villiers, MP for Chipping Barnet, who is Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, admits that that even her police protection officers cannot work out where it is possible to park in High Barnet town centre.

High Barnet needs another nine additional cabinets to complete the roll-out of high-speed broadband The Barnet Society’s campaign to force British Telecom to complete High Barnet’s roll-out of high-speed broadband will get the continued support of Theresa Villiers, the Chipping Barnet MP, but she has warned that many local householders will fail to get an improved

After a rising number of complaints about blue disabled badges being used unlawfully by motorists, High Barnet Police say they are stepping up uniformed patrols and will take action against drivers breaking the law.

For the last 50 years Barnet children have needed to go no further than Wood Street to catch a glimpse of a scene that brings to life that much-loved nursery rhyme “Old MacDonald Had a Farm”.