News from The Barnet Society

A renewed attempt is being made to get up to date information on the future ownership of The Spires Shopping Centre in High Barnet following a second intervention by the High Court appointing administrators for companies involved with its leases.

A road closure most parents might welcome would be when the street outside their homes is transformed into a safe play space for small children free of traffic.

Steel piling has been used to strengthen the retaining wall along the side of Jack’s Lake in Monken Hadley Common after the bank sprang a leak which was posing a danger to the long-term future of one of Barnet’s most popular beauty spots.

When Charles Dickens was forced the spend the night at the Red Lion in Barnet he faced some harsh truths – a challenging story line delivered with style and conviction by the cast of Between the Lines, which had its first night at The Bull Theatre in a run of sell-out performances.

A planning dispute over an unsuccessful bid to build a large new house within the Monken Hadley conservation area has resulted in Barnet Council declaring a woodland tree preservation order on the whole site.

A blue plaque has been installed outside a house in Calvert Road to draw attention to an ongoing dispute between residents and Barnet Council over the painting of double yellow line parking restrictions at the junction with Sebright Road.

Two ponds at North Middlesex Golf Club in Friern Barnet Lane are to be cleared of silt and enlarged to improve flood management after heavy rainfall. Water storage capacity along Blacketts Brook, which flows through the golf course and includes the two ponds, is to be increased at a cost of £340,000.

A six-year fund-raising campaign for a new community hall at Monken Hadley is not far short of its £1.3 million target with the hope it might be possible finally to start to demolish the existing unsafe Church House by the end of the year.

A service of commemoration and laying of wreaths marked the 555th anniversary of the Battle of Barnet – a service researched and devised by the recently appointed rector of Monken Hadley parish church, the Reverend Francesco Aresco.

This swathe of Green Belt will be mostly built over if current plans are approved. And within Barnet, dozens of so-called ‘Grey Belt’ sites are being targetted for new homes (few of which are likely to be affordable). The Labour Council promises to create a Regional Park, which could prevent that. This should be an issue in our local election in May – but do voters know or care?

Stopping outside a house in a quiet residential street near Oakleigh Park, East Barnet, was mission accomplished for London Ambulance administrative officer David Sleep who is a lover of history and a great supporter of English Heritage blue plaques honouring the lives of famous people.

A two-year struggle to keep going amid the disruption caused by ending up in the middle of a construction site has finally defeated the landlady of the aptly named Builders Arms in New Barnet.

The tsunami of tall buildings that started 20 years ago in West Hendon and Brent Cross is now breaking on the northern suburbs of Barnet. Above are samples: High Barnet Place and Great North Leisure Park, both refused by the Council but called in by the Mayor of London; and Edgware town centre, approved by the Council. Their transformation of our borough, visually and socially, should surely be a local election issue on 7 May.

Young musicians will be to the fore during a summer season of concerts to be held at several High Barnet venues including the parish church of St the Baptist. Barnet viola player Inis Oirr Asano (above), who lives in Underhill, will be appearing with the Elmore Quarter during the High Barnet Chamber Music Festival in June.

Homeless Action in Barnet – a leading charity assisting rough sleepers across the borough – is organising an open day at its headquarters in Woodhouse Road, North Finchley, where a highlight will be a fashion show of outfits created and modelled by some of those who are being supported.

Residents of two narrow streets of mainly small cottages and terraced homes claim they have been ignored and abandoned by Barnet Council which has imposed double yellow lines at the junction of Sebright and Calvert Roads without proper consultation.

After several years of uncertainty about its long-term future, Barnet Council has finally found new premises for the Rainbow Centre, a vital community hub for residents of Underhill and especially the Dollis Valley estate.

With the reintroduction of domestic food waste collections from homes across the Borough of Barnet, families will be making their contribution towards generating electricity and producing liquid farmland fertiliser at a renewable energy plant midway between North Mymms and London Colney.

A special 263 Sunday service to Barnet Church – in support of Comic Relief – provided bus passengers a chance to step back in time and hop on board an iconic Routemaster.

Barnet’s music lovers are in for a feast of summer events with organisers announcing programmes for concerts right through to August including an annual highlight of four evening performances in the woods beside Jack’s Lake at Monken Hadley Common.