News from The Barnet Society

Within two weeks of hearing about a planning application for residential caravans on Green Belt farmland in the Dollis Valley, well over 500 objectors registered their opposition, backing a campaign mounted by residents of Mays Lane and surrounding roads.

Many of the motorists hurrying past beside the edge of Monken Hadley Common have probably never stopped to take a walk or had a chance to enjoy an historic and incomparable green space on the boundary of Greater London.

Volunteers collected over 65 kilogrammes of surplus apples from trees in the back gardens of houses in Sebright Road -- all destined for foodbanks and self-help groups across the London Borough of Barnet.

Families with young children have been moving to the London Borough of Barnet because of the strong performance of its secondary schools -- a strength recognised at the annual "Celebration of Excellence" at Queen Elizabeth's Girls' School.

In his first campaign since becoming the Labour Party's prospective parliamentary candidate for Chipping Barnet, Dan Tomlinson has collected over 300 signatures in a petition opposing plans to close railway station ticket offices at New Barnet and Oakleigh Park.

Enforcement cameras at road junctions in and around High Barnet which were vandalised when the Ultra Low Emission Zone was extended to the outer London boroughs appear to be back in working order. Measures have now been taken to protect cables connected to the cameras.

Tim Edwards, the headmaster who led Queen Elizabeth's Boys' School, Barnet, through what became a difficult but short-lived era as a comprehensive school, has died at the age of 98.

Barnet Council's strategic planning committee has given the go ahead for the construction of a two-storey clubhouse and floodlights at the Byng Road playing fields even thought it would result in "substantial harm to the sense of openness" of surrounding Green Belt countryside.

A baby bank which provides nappies, formula milk, clothes and other essentials for babies and small children has opened a new base which is ready to help needy and vulnerable families living in Barnet, Hertfordshire, and nearby London boroughs.

After a year's work by volunteers helping to build temporary stables, classroom and an arena, the Mayor of Barnet, Councillor Nagus Narenthira, celebrated the official launch in Mays Lane, Barnet, of the new home of an equine therapy centre which assists challenged youngsters.

Barnet U3A choir gave a spirited curtain raiser for a Wellbeing Day organised by Barnet Council to promote support services and help advertise community drop-in events for elderly, needy and lonely residents.

Hertsmere Borough Council celebrated in style to launch the 84B -- the reintroduced bus route between Potters Bar railway station and High Barnet which reinstates a missing service and provides a vital connection to Barnet Hospital.

Another sign of the mounting opposition to plans to replace much of The Spires shopping centre with blocks of flats was the strength of a Saturday morning protest in Barnet High Street. Leaflets were handed out and shoppers queued up to sign a petition opposing the redevelopment.

Sitting with her dog beside Jack's Lake at the height of the Covid pandemic, New Barnet opera singer Ilona Domnich had a flash of inspiration. Could a wooded glade at the water's edge in Monken Hadley Common become an auditorium for an outdoor concert.

Barnet is having to adjust to becoming a potentially troublesome gateway to the Ultra Low Emission Zone, With this status have come problems: several cameras have already been vandalised and despite the introduction of two charge-free corridors around High Barnet, it is feared some motorists will inevitably become confused.

Housebuilders Hill say they are finalising a fresh planning application to redevelop former farmland on the Whalebones state in the Wood Street Conservation Areas, close to Barnet Hospital.

Hertsmere Borough Council has agreed to pay a subsidy of £600 a day for the re-introduction of an hourly bus service -- the 84B -- to reconnect Potters Bar to High Barnet.

Within a week of discovering development taking place within protected Green Belt woodland a group of Arkley residents have mobilised themselves to demand action from Barnet Council to prevent unauthorised house building.

Access to well-used footpaths through protected Green Belt woodland off Rowley Lane, Arkley, is being blocked by fencing and other obstructions. Trees and undergrowth are also being cleared. Nearby residents and dog walkers say they have alerted Barnet Council to what they claim are attempts to start house building without planning permission.

A route and timetable have now been published for a replacement 84-bus service between Potters Bar and High Barnet, which is due to start on Monday 4 September, the day many schools go back.