News from The Barnet Society

Barnet Council’s Labour controlled cabinet has been accused by Conservative councillors of “skirting around” the need to come clean with residents about what is almost certain to be a massive hike in council tax next year.

New Barnet has been chosen as the location for the UK’s first local authority owned estate and lettings agency. Bumblebee Property has an office in the parade of shops next to Sainsbury’s super store.

Leaving behind her sculptures and paintings was quite a wrench for artist Joy Feld, so Carlton Court Care Home in Bells Hill, Barnet, came up with the idea of staging an exhibition of her work.

London Fire Brigade has stepped in to help save any remaining fish by adding up to a foot of water into the Brewery Pond on Hadley Green.

At least a dozen large fish had to be removed from Brewery Pond on Hadley Green after they were found floating on the surface having died most probably due to the summer drought and a prolonged lack of rainfall.

After four youngsters on e-bikes and e-scooters caused fresh damage to greens at the Shire London golf course, a group of High Banet residents are hoping to discuss with the club’s management ways to prevent further vandalism.

Turf on three of the greens at the Shire London Golf Club off St Albans Road has been churned up and damaged by youngsters riding e-bikes on recent evenings.

With a rapidly approaching deadline of mid-October, a fund-raising campaign has taken on new urgency as Mays Lane residents prepare their community bid to take over the derelict former Quinta Youth Club.

Former Chipping Barnet Conservative MP Dame Theresa Villiers has decided to leave the political fray of competitive politics to focus instead on an academic career undertaking advanced postgraduate research at University College London.

New housing developments around High Barnet and New Barnet are likely to lead to an increase of well over 2,000 in the local population but residents’ groups say there is no sign of health authorities delivering on promises to boost capacity at already over-stretched doctors’ surgeries.

Barely five years after Mayor Khan’s current London Plan came into force, he’s consulting on a new one. The good news is that it will be a lot slimmer than the present version. The bad news for Barnet is that he’s upping his target for new homes in our borough, and he’s identified places in the Green Belt where some of them could be built.

Cast members are going through their storylines before rehearsals start in September at The Bull Theatre for a new play which aims to portray the life and times of the townspeople of Barnet during the Second World War.

Citizens Advice Barnet has launched a recruitment campaign for new volunteers and is keen to appoint new advisers for its two local drop-in advice sessions at Chipping Barnet Library in Stapylton Road and at Jim’s Café at St James Church, New Barnet.

Wartime comings and goings among patrons and staff at Barnet Odeon contribute to storylines in the latest production by the Blue Door Theatre Company to be staged at The Bull Theatre in October.

Completion of the redevelopment of the Dollis Valley estate – where blocks of flats and maisonettes have been awaiting demolition for the last three years – is finally to go ahead with access to a £58 million grant from the Greater London Authority.

A bumper crop of 1,000 or more pumpkins is expected at Grow, the school farm at The Totteridge Academy, where volunteers are having to water the crops to cope with the drought during the summer holidays.

Ravenscroft Park was the setting for an outdoor service held by Christ Church, Barnet, allowing the congregation and passersby to take advantage of a sunny Sunday morning. “Church in the Park” was the first service of its kind organised by Christ Church as part of its ongoing commitment to reach out to the community.

An Inspector has dismissed an appeal by developer Christchurchgrove Ltd against Barnet Council’s refusal of its planning application to build a 5-bedroom house in a wood in Chipping Barnet. The decision concludes a successful campaign by local residents, with help from the Barnet Society, to save a cherished natural habitat in the Monken Hadley Conservation Area. It also sends a message to developers about the Council’s commitment to protecting green spaces in Barnet.

Aubrey Rose CBE, proud President of the Barnet Society, died on 26th June 2026 aged 99. He was a great supporter of the Society, always ready with encouragement and advice. He helped secure The Bull as a community resource, and his experience of town planning was a help to the Society’s planning and environmental work. Jenny Remfry, our Vice President, writes the following appreciation:

Construction of new houses and flats is well underway on what was the last remaining field on the border betweenHigh High Barnet and Arkley – a development described by a Deputy Mayor of London as a “fantastic example” of delivering new homes while preserving a green space and respecting the heritage of the location.