After facing a barrage of complaints and criticism over proposal to build a new school for almost 2,000 pupils on what was formerly the Barnet Football Club stadium, the Ark Academy network admitted its plans were “not yet a done deal”.
After mounting concern about the recent loss of leading retailers, High Barnet’s shopping centre has received a shot in the arm: H&M, the leading Swedish fashion chain, has finally signed up to take the lease of a brand new store in the Spires shopping centre.
“The boys dun good” was the general consensus of passers-by as three High Barnet seniors spent 16 man hours giving the Church Passage bench a much-needed wash and brush-up.
Three volunteers spent the morning washing down and scrubbing clean the long, architecturally-designed teak bench that is beside the gardens in Church Passage, just off Barnet High Street.
Continue reading Community action spruces up Church Passage bench
Schools in and around Barnet are already queuing up for their pupils to visit the Byng Road nature reserve and its new eco-friendly environment centre after its official opening by leading benefactor Janet Hulme of the Hadley Trust.
Opposition is mounting to the possibility that 14 acres of woods and farmland at Whalebones, between Wood Street and Barnet Hospital, might be zoned for housing and community use.
A two-storey, 24,000-square-foot new fashion store – replacing four existing shop units – will become the centrepiece of a new-look Spires shopping centre if planning permission is obtained from Barnet Council.
Barnet Council has finally agreed to review its parking charges along Barnet High Street following a campaign by the Barnet Society on behalf of local residents, shoppers and traders.
Renewed uncertainty about the future of the White Lion on St Albans Road has led to a successful bid to persuade Barnet Council to declare that the pub is a community asset of value to local residents.
The purchase by a property company of Barnet’s former British Legion hall at the corner of Moxon Street and Tapster Street has opened up for residential redevelopment another swathe of land immediately to the east of the High Street.
The Barnet Society’s campaign for a 30 minute free parking period in the High Street is featured in the latest series is Parking Wars at 8pm on ITV 1 on Thursday 15 September.
Barnet High Street has been bedecked once again with flowering hanging baskets. But please do not be fooled into thinking Barnet Council deserves the credit for adding this splash of colour to the town centre.
Barnet High Street is once again bedecked with flowering hanging baskets – their arrival was delayed by the late spring and they are still in need of some more warm weather!
Barnet Council has been accused by supporters of the Campaign for Real Ale of acting in an underhand way in rejecting an application to grant community asset protection to the now closed Old Red Lion public house at the bottom of Barnet Hill.
Barnet Council is being urged by the Campaign for Real Ale to prevent the demolition of the Old Red Lion public house, at the bottom of Barnet Hill, by declaring it a community asset for the use of local residents.
A joint attempt by the Barnet Society and the Barnet Times to persuade Barnet Council to introduce a period of free car parking to boost trade in the borough’s high streets was rejected by the environment committee.
Continue reading Barnet Council says no to free parking – but campaign goes on
Almost 2,000 people visiting shops and other premises in the High Street have signed the Barnet Society’s petition calling on Barnet Council to consider offering an hour’s free parking to help the town’s retailers.
Consultations have started on proposals to redevelop part of the course of the Old Fold Manor Golf Club, across land that is currently included in the registered site of the Battle of Barnet.
Petition forms distributed by the Barnet Society to around 100 shops and other retail premises along the High Street are showing far higher support than expected for the Society’s campaign for an hour’s free parking.
High Barnet’s “impossible” parking controls are forcing another independent trader out of the High Street.
Councillor David Longstaff has joined Mrs Theresa Villiers MP and Gordon Massey, chairman of Barnet Residents Association, in opposing the Barnet Society’s petition calling for an hour’s free parking to help win back shoppers to the High Street.
Another two independent traders are being forced out of the High Street by a combination of high rents and the chronic difficulties faced by shoppers confronted by High Barnet’s expensive and inordinately complicated parking regime.
A mini-roundabout and an additional zebra crossing are being proposed by Barnet Council to improve road safety for motorists and pedestrians at the junction of Wood Street and Wellhouse Lane.
The depth of local anger, frustration and even despair at the damage being inflicted on Barnet’s shopping centre is highlighted yet again in comments in support of the Barnet Society’s petition calling on Barnet Council to allow an hour’s free parking.
After a rising number of complaints about blue disabled badges being used unlawfully by motorists, High Barnet Police say they are stepping up uniformed patrols and will take action against drivers breaking the law.
For the last 50 years Barnet children have needed to go no further than Wood Street to catch a glimpse of a scene that brings to life that much-loved nursery rhyme “Old MacDonald Had a Farm”.
The Barnet Society is launching a Save Our High Street appeal: our town centre desperately needs more shoppers and we hope local businesses and other organisations, as well as local residents will join our campaign.
Barnet church has its clock back at last! For almost a month High Barnet residents looked in vain when needing to check the time, but the tower of the town’s famous landmark is resplendent once more.
Green Belt surrounds Chipping Barnet on three sides, and the Barnet Society was founded in 1945 to protect it. As London grows, we believe it – and the natural landscape adjoining it – is likely to be even more appreciated. But while the Society’s default setting is to oppose any development on or next to it, we won’t carry weight if we blindly oppose any change; and if a proposal meets the highest design and sustainability standards, we welcome it.
A Battle of Barnet heritage trail starting at Hadley Highstone is just one of the ambitious plans for providing a lasting legacy if funding can be obtained from the Heritage Lottery Fund for an archaeological excavation of the battlefield site.
Continue reading Plans for a heritage trail for the Battle of Barnet
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Anna McKechnie posted a comment on Promise of 100 affordable new homes influences final go ahead for tower blocks at High Barnet tube station and loss of car parking
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