News from The Barnet Society

After protests from local tree lovers, Barnet Council finally called a temporary halt to trench digging and cable laying directly under a 250-year-old oak that commands the brow of the hill at the junction of The Meadway and Potters Road, New Barnet.

After being refused permission in January, Barnet Council’s planning committee has now approved plans for the proposed Ark Academy school on the site of the vacant Underhill stadium, former home of Barnet Football Club.

Unthinking council planners and contractors are being blamed by local tree lovers for hacking through the roots of 250-year-old oak by excavating a trench and building two concrete bases for broadband telephone boxes.

Workshop where students shared their experiences as part of a theatrical project to tackle cyber-bullying Two students who took part in a workshop at the Wood Street campus of  Barnet and Southgate College are to appear in a new play, Cookies, that explores the challenging world of cyber-bullying.

Record GCSE and A-level results for the second consecutive year have now been topped by the news that Queen Elizabeth Girls’ School, Barnet, has been ranked in the top 2 per cent of all secondary schools by the Department of Education.

Barnet Old People’s Welfare committee fears that the demolition of the Fern Room, its day centre in Salisbury Road, to make way for a block of ten flats might well force the closure of a group that has been providing activities for Barnet’s elderly resident for the last 75 years.

Michael Portillo, presenter of the tv series Great Railway Journeys, unveiled a plaque at Hadley Wood station to commemorate the great steam locomotive engineer Sir Nigel Gresley, who was a former Hadley Wood resident.

Plans have been announced by a developer to demolish the Fern Room in Salisbury Road, Barnet, and replace it with a new building containing ten flats as well as new ground-floor community facilities.

Barnet market stall holders are delighted by the news that the managing agents for the Spires shopping centre are planning to move the twice-weekly stalls market to the paved area between Waitrose and the bandstand.

Organisers of Barnet’s teenage market – to be launched on Easter Saturday next year – are hoping that this new attraction will match the boost to the Spires shopping centre provided by the opening of H&M’s fashion store.

Sophie is now 11 years old and is displaying similar symptoms to her brother who died aged 17 To coincide with the start of building work on its site at the environment centre off Byng Road, Barnet, an appeal has been launched for the final £2 million needed to complete construction and fit out the new

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.

A service to institute and induct its new vicar, the Reverend Andy Rimmer, was described as a moment to celebrate the commitment shown by Christ Church, in St Albans Road, to reach out to the High Barnet community.

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.

Neil Kinnock led the tributes at a party to celebrate the 93rd birthday party for Fred Jarvis, Barnet’s most celebrated trade unionist – and a New Barnet resident for over 60 years.

Reaching out to local schools to explain and promote Barnet’s role in the Wars of the Roses is one of the key objectives of the lottery-funded Battle of Barnet project.

Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the Archbishop of Westminster, re-opened High Barnet’s Roman Catholic church after the completion of a 100-seat extension and extensive refurbishment.

New Ground co-housing, the innovative flats for older women in Union Street, High Barnet, have been declared overall winner of the prestigious 2017 Housing Design Awards – and are now up for another accolade. The Barnet Society is nominating the development for recognition in Barnet Council’s newly-launched 2017 Architecture Awards.

After failing its first public examination, Ark Pioneer Academy (APA) is back for a re-sit – this time a planning application for a new 1,200-place secondary school and 6th form.

A survey is to be undertaken to discover the extent of local interest and reaction to the prospect of housing development on the Whalebones green space, between Barnet Hospital and Wood Street.