News from The Barnet Society

Resident guardians who have had temporary homes in the former Marie Foster Centre in Wood Street, Barnet, are moving out following the approval of plans to build a 100-room care home on the site.

A planning application has now been submitted to Barnet Council for a large-scale private care home for the elderly on the Marie Foster site in the heart of the Wood Street conservation area.

Two historic cottages at the corner of Wood Street and Manor Road have revealed a secret that has been hidden for 150 years or more – and it gives a glimpse of the fashionable interior of the fine houses that once graced High Barnet.

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.

Contractors working on the installation of a mini-roundabout at one of High Barnet’s most hazardous road junctions have had to down tools because of an unexpected hitch with pipes for utility services. A road re-alignment at the heavily-used junction of Wellhouse Lane and Wood Street was first proposed by Barnet Council in the autumn of 2014.

A traffic management experiment at the junction of Wood Street and Barnet High Street is causing a headache for some drivers. There is currently no left turn from Wood Street into High Street, and no corresponding right turn in front of the parish church from High Street into Wood Street.

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.

Seventy-five years ago workmen from a local building contractor, W. Foster & Sons, were asked to complete a highly unusual task: they had to restore the unique appearance of one of Chipping Barnet’s oldest residences.

A planning inspector has ordered that unauthorised timber cladding must be removed from the frontage of retail premises in the heart of the High Barnet conservation area. An appeal by Mr G. Cramer, owner of 1 Church Passage, has been rejected and Barnet Council has won official backing for an enforcement notice requiring its removal.

A road realignment, a possible new zebra crossing and extra footpaths are being proposed at the junction of Wellhouse Lane and Wood Street to provide greater safety for both vehicles and pedestrians.

In the two years since the Barnet Society began protesting about derelict NHS buildings nothing has changed. The abandoned Marie Foster Home in Wood Street is still an eyesore, and so is the fire-ravaged former nurses’ home at Arkley.