News from The Barnet Society

Theresa Villiers, Conservative MP for Chipping Barnet since 2005, has been returned to the House of Commons with a slightly increased majority after a closely fought general election contest against Labour candidate, Emma Whysall.

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.

Working together with other local primary and secondary schools and welcoming the involvement of community groups are among the key objectives of Aishling Ryan, newly-appointed principal of Barnet Ark Pioneer Academy which opens in September with its first intake of 180 pupils.

Ark Pioneer Academy, built on the site of the Underhill football stadium, opens in September Ark Pioneer Academy, High Barnet’s new secondary school opening in September, has started holding drop in sessions for potential parents and pupils – heightening the debate about its impact on other nearby schools.

Trustees for the fields around Whalebones, where just over 150 new homes are planned, say they believe the wishes of the former owner, the late Gwyneth Cowing, will be honoured.

For our spring public forum, the Barnet Society has arranged for an expert panel to answer questions of local interest on key issues such as the future of education and training, prospects for local employment, plans for new housing and future safeguards for the Green Belt.

Barnet’s annual Christmas fayre broke with tradition this year. Instead of being opened by the Mayor of Barnet, the ceremony was conducted by the “Lord Mayor of London, Councillor Richard Whittington” – star of the Christmas pantomime at the The Bull Theatre.

A development plan for the woods and fields around Whalebones in Wood Street, Barnet, proposes the construction of between 150 and 180 homes to be offset by the creation of two new green spaces and footpaths open to the public.

A bumper crowd of well-wishers and Easter Saturday shoppers turned out for the opening of the first Barnet Teenage Market. Twelve stalls almost filled the Waitrose entrance to the Spires shopping centre – and the bandstand had rarely seen so much action in years, with a succession of local musicians and singers providing live entertainment.

A group of residents campaigning to stop housing development on the Whalebones farmland are investigating several options for safeguarding one of High Barnet’s much-loved green spaces.

A damp Sunday afternoon did little to dampen the excitement for countless children who enjoyed the traditional fun fair that has become such a popular attraction at Barnet’s annual Christmas Fayre.

Creating a city farm with access for volunteers and local children is one of the ideas being canvassed by Theresa Villiers, the Chipping Barnet MP, as part of her efforts to save the Whalebones open space.

High Barnet’s police station will close to the public by the end of the year along with 36 other police stations across London where the Metropolitan Police is withdrawing a front counter service.

A derelict former nurses’ home that has been an eyesore for years will finally be demolished under plans to build flats and townhouses on the Marie Foster Care Home site in Wood Street, Barnet. NHS Property Services has put the two-and-a-half-acre site up for sale.

High Barnet police station is one of 30 or so across London where a front counter service to the public is likely to be withdrawn under a cost-cutting plan announced by the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan.

Plans to replace a semi-derelict vacant shop that has blighted Union Street for many years will go a long way towards finishing off a make-over for one of High Barnet’s historic thoroughfares.

An 18-year struggle by a group of “ageing, stubborn but steadfast” women reached its grand finale with glasses of champagne and canapes all round to celebrate the opening in High Barnet of the UK’s first co-housing project for seniors.

Preserving two massive jaw bones from a ninety-foot-long blue whale is just one of the challenges facing the new owners of Barnet’s historic Whalebones House, one of the town’s oldest residences surrounded by woods and fields that are now threatened with redevelopment.

Virgin Media is to offer homes and businesses in High Barnet a rival broadband service after long-standing complaints that British Telecom has failed to satisfy the demand of around 3,000 households for a superfast connection.