News from The Barnet Society

Barnet Council’s environment committee is examining the feasibility of using small parks and green spaces across the Borough of Barnet as possible sites for installing solar panels or electricity storage units for renewable energy.

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).

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.

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.

Applications to install another three super-size phone boxes with illuminated advertising panels in Barnet High Street have been turned down by Barnet Council on the grounds they would be detrimental to the character of the town centre and a potential danger to pedestrians and road users.

Barnet Council is asking for the views of residents on plans to introduce an annual charge for the fortnightly collection of household garden waste. If the charge is agreed – saving the council £700,000 a year – only green bins with a special sticker will continue to be collected.

Transport for London and developers Taylor Wimpey have reduced significantly their original plans to redevelop land in and around High Barnet station with five-storey blocks of flats. Plans have now been dropped for two of seven blocks of flats.

Parents at three nursery schools in the Barnet Early Years Alliance have joined a campaign to try to get secure and adequate funding in the face of further cuts being imposed as a result of pressure on Barnet Council to reduce spending on schools.

Barnet Council is investigating complaints by local residents that the newly opened Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice has extended its car park to include a pedestrian grass verge along the road leading to the Byng Road environment centre, playing fields and allotments.

New Barnet’s new leisure centre and library – complete with a 25 metre six-lane swimming pool and a state-of-the-art gym – was opened by the Mayor of Barnet, Councillor Caroline Stock Two new leisure centres, one at the Victoria Recreation Ground, New Barnet, and another at Copthall, Mill Hill, which together cost £44.9 million, both opened

A school and community farm in a six-acre field next to Totteridge Academy is a step closer to being established after the success of a fund-raising appeal.

The Council’s proposed master plan for Barnet and King George V Playing Fields, and especially its building on Barnet Playing Fields, would be a gross intrusion into the Green Belt. It would be contrary to Council, Mayor of London and Government policies. It would set a very bad precedent for future developments in the Green Belt.

The Barnet Society invites you to sign the Change.org petition below. Although the subject may seem outside our normal area of interest, it is important that we should be able to voice our concerns fully to the Council when necessary.

Business advice, digital training, even possible mentoring, were all on offer at the first Barnet Business Expo which attracted a wide range of potential entrepreneurs anxious for guidance on how to start up on their own.

Well over 100 residents attended a meeting at St Mark’s Church to launch a campaign to oppose Transport for London’s plans to build up to seven blocks of flats providing 450 new homes on land around High Barnet tube station.

Transport for London has commissioned plans for the construction of over 450 new homes on land around High Barnet underground station.

According to a circular being distributed around Chipping Barnet, proposals are being developed to ‘improve’ the area around High Barnet station. These will include new public space and new homes, including affordable homes.

Thames Water are warning that it will probably be the end of July before there is a final end to the roadworks that have led to road closures and restrictions on traffic passing through the historic village of Monken Hadley.

An alcove in front of Chipping Barnet library has been chosen as the potential site of a large granite sculpture, depicting a family of four, by Finchley sculptor Drew Edwards.

A business plan for opening a combined space for a children’s play area and community activities in Barnet High Street has won this year’s Entrepreneurial Barnet Competition. Joanne Merchant, a High Barnet mother of two, scooped up the top prize of £3,500 in financial backing plus business mentoring advice.