News from The Barnet Society

After feedback from a public exhibition in January, the Victoria Quarter housing development on the former gas works site in New Barnet has been scaled back slightly by lowering the height of the proposed blocks of flats and by making a small reduction in the number of new homes.

Planting trees on Barnet Hill has been one of the great achievements of the Barnet Society -- and it is still work in progress with a row of Hawthorn being the lastest.

Barnet's highly successful medieval festival, due to have been staged during the last weekend in May, is just one of the many local events that are having to be postponed or cancelled because of the coronavirus crisis.  Organisers have rescheduled this year's festival from its original date of May 30-31 to the weekend of September 19-20.

Only around 20 shops and retail outlets are still open for business along the entire length of Barnet High Street during the second week of the tightening squeeze being imposed by the coronavirus lockdown.

A massive pile of rubble, beams and planks was all that was left of Barnet’s blot of the landscape – the derelict nurses’ home for the former Victoria Maternity Hospital in Wood Street. Heavy mechanical equipment moved into the Marie Foster Centre site just before Christmas and the demolition was completed within a day.

Hadley Football Club, which is aiming to become a regular home attraction for many more Barnet football fans, faces two critical New Year fixtures in its bid to gain promotion to the next level of the National Football League.

A triptych featuring Tracey Emin and Damien Hirst – which was on display at the Barnet Guild of Artists’ annual exhibition – has pride of place in the entrance to the Reel cinema in Boreham Wood. Two walls of the cinema foyer gallery are filled with paintings, cartoons and caricatures by Barnet artist, Simon Ellinas.

An appeal to provide a Christmas present for children living in poverty across the Borough of Barnet is hoping to distribute well over 300 parcels each containing a gift. Presents can be purchased online for distribution by the Young Barnet Foundation as part of its Secret Santa Appeal.

A new leaflet has been published that brings together all the contact details and opening times for urgent medical attention and hospital care that will be available across the Borough of Barnet during the Christmas and New Year holiday. Copies are available in health centres, surgeries, pharmacies, libraries and other public buildings.

Fraud officers from Barnet Council have conducted a sweep of cars parked in Barnet High Street and surrounding roads as part of a stepped-up campaign to detect fraudulent use of disabled blue badges.

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.

Plans for the station land have been scaled back, as Nick Jones reported on 7 November. But unless more radical improvements are made, the Barnet Society will oppose them. Last August, we sent the Society’s 20-point criteria for development* to Transport for London and its developer partner Taylor Wimpey (TfL/TW).

The fate of the car park at High Barnet tube station and a critical shortage of general practitioners across the borough were two local issues – in addition to Brexit and climate change – that produced lively exchanges at the Chipping Barnet constituency election hustings.

An ambitious and imaginative portrayal of local history delighted packed audiences at a Son et Lumiere held at Monken Hadley to celebrate the 525th anniversary of the parish church of St Mary the Virgin. Audiences at six performances were warned there would be flashing lights, smoke effects and loud noises inside the church.

Deciding to close Barnet High Street for the annual Christmas fair was an inspired initiative that has paid handsome dividends in sustaining a great community spirit says the Mayor of Barnet, Councillor Caroline Stock.

Motorists tooted their horns and pedestrians waved back when children at Underhill School held up their “Save Our Planet” posters all along the school fence in Mays Lane, Barnet.

A ban on the anti-social drinking of alcohol in Barnet High Street and other public spaces around the town centre took effect at the beginning of November. This follows the introduction by Barnet Council of similar anti-social behaviour orders for public spaces in Edgware town centre, Childs Hill and Burnt Oak.

High Barnet’s feline celebrity, Millie the Waitrose cat, might well re-appear early next year – in the shape of a small bronze statue by local sculptor John Somerville.

A petition has been launched to try to persuade Barnet Council to improve road safety between the Spires shopping centre and Chipping Barnet library by upgrading the pedestrian crossing so that it is controlled by traffic lights.

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.