Any prospect of Barnet Football Club returning to Underhill and building a new stadium was well and truly dashed at a question time session held by senior members of Barnet Council.

Council leader Barry Rawlings said he could not envisage Ark Pioneer Academy being forced to give up its school playing field to provide a site for a new stadium.

“Barnet keep saying they want to return to Underhill, but the site the club has chosen is a school sports field and if an application was made for this, the Department of Education would stop it in a flash.”

Mr Rawlings insisted that Barnet Council did want to help the club to return to the borough and councillors and officers were ready to discuss other potential sites but there was “very little possibility” of a return to Underhill.

Since earlier this year there has been an upsurge in the “Bring Barnet Back” campaign – with a poster displayed on Barnet Hill – and former friends and supporters have rallied behind proposals unveiled by the club chairman Tony Kleanthous.

Barnet moved to The Hive Football Centre – midway between Edgware and Stanmore – in 2013 after a protracted dispute between Mr Kleanthous and the council over the refusal to grant planning permission to rebuild the original stadium.

After Mr Kleanthous put the ground up for sale in 2014, it was purchased by the Department of Education as a site for a new free school, Ark Pioneer Academy, which opened in 2019.

After a decade at The Hive, Mr Kleanthous has now opted to see if the club can return to Underhill.

Earlier this year he published proposals for a new stadium, club building and car park to be situated on the playing field in front of the new school.

In a bid to win approval for the scheme, the club said the new layout would take into account the needs of Ark Academy and would include two multi-use games areas, a circulation and recreational zone for pupils, and a school drop-off zone to alleviate rush hour traffic congestion.

When asked at the Barnet Council question time if it could support the Bring Barnet Back campaign, Councillor Rawlings said the council would welcome the club if it wanted to leave Harrow and return to Barnet.

“I spoke to Tony about this and said to him: ‘Don’t look at Underhill’. We can support you in looking for a site within the borough, but not on a school sports field.

“But what does the club do? They still opted for Underhill when it’s obvious the Department of Education could stop this in a flash.

“So, let’s have further conversations and look at other sites.”

As far as he understood it, the club had yet to validate a possible application for planning permission.

In an attempt to build up support for a return to Underhill, the Bring Barnet Back campaign laid on a screening at the Everyman Cinema of a documentary of the club’s last season at Underhill.

Since its launch a few months ago, the campaign has grown to several thousand members, many of whom are active in the local community.

“While the group includes football fans, it also includes many community groups such as the Big C Choir and Barnet Scouts, who believe the borough would significantly benefit from the extensive award-winning work Barnet FC have done in the community.”

A short speech of encouragement was given by the newly-elected Chipping Barnet MP Dan Tomlinson, but no details were revealed about the project and the MP, in what was one of his first speaking engagements since the election, made no comment on either the proposed location or possible design of the stadium.

Among those in the audience was Robin Bishop, who leads for the Barnet Society on planning and the environment.

He has written to the campaign welcoming the prospect of the club returning to Barnet; acknowledging the club’s readiness to engage with the community; and expressing a willingness to have discussions.

Much more information was needed about the club’s plan: there would have to be an assessment of how the new stadium would affect the Ark Academy’s sport and leisure facilities; the impact a stadium would have on local roads and transport; and its impact on the local environment.

These issues -- and related questions about the impact of new housing in Brook Valley Gardens and possible flats at High Barnet tube station – would need joined-up thinking and skilful planning.

“If they can be satisfactorily resolved, and if Barnet FC’s building and grounds are designed sensitively with net zero carbon emissions – perhaps along the lines of Forest Green Rovers’ proposed Eco Park – the Barnet Society could support it,” said Mr Bishop.

“But alternative, and possibly better sites should be considered before committing to the Barnet Playing Fields location.”  

An indication of the likely hostility that would be aroused among nearby residents if the club did apply to re-locate to Underhill emerged earlier in the council question time.

People living in Barnet Lane have already said Barnet FC’s plan is “diabolical” because it would only add to the extra traffic already generated by the presence of Ark Academy.

In a plea for the introduction of a controlled parking zone, one Barnet Lane resident said their lives were a misery because of inconsiderate parking, especially by commercial vehicles, and the traffic generated by the new free school.

“The residents opposed the building of the Ark Academy, and we were over-ruled by the Mayor of London and as a result residents face obstruction and inconvenience.

“Every year there are more and more cars at the school, and soon it will be sixth formers who will be driving there but nothing is being done to sort out Barnet Lane.

“The tube station car park is often full, and we are the ones to suffer.”

Councillor Alan Schneiderman, cabinet member for the environment and climate change, said the council would respond and consider applications from residents for CPZ zones and “school streets” with traffic restraints.

Other residents from elsewhere in the borough complained about their areas being overwhelmed by car parking and the lack of controls regarding commercial vehicles.

“When will Barnet Council get a grip on excessive parking in residential streets? Our experience is that nothing is being done.”