A group of feisty women, happy to be renowned for their stubbornness, gathered in Union Street, Barnet, for a ceremony marking the start of construction on a unique project – the first purpose-built co-housing scheme of its kind in the country.
Continue reading UK’s first purpose-build co-housing starts in Barnet
British Telecom has promised to send an executive to High Barnet in mid- March to meet the Chipping Barnet MP, Theresa Villiers, and local residents to discuss the lack of high-speed broadband in many of the roads in and around the town centre.
Continue reading Visiting BT executive to resolve broadband speed fiasco?
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.
Catering and tourism students from Barnet and Southgate College are gaining work experience at High Barnet’s newest pop-up shop, a family-friendly tea shop that has opened in the Spires shopping centre.
Continue reading Catering skills of Barnet students put to test
Planning vote goes against Guns & Smoke. Guns & Smoke, a new American-style bar and grill opposite Barnet parish church, has failed to obtain planning permission for its illuminated frontage in Church Passage.
High Barnet’s “impossible” parking controls are forcing another independent trader out of the High Street.
Dr Gillian Gear, Barnet Museum’s archivist, was invested with the Order of the British Empire at a ceremony at the Tower of London last November.
Continue reading Dr Gear invested with the Order of the British Empire
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.
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.
The Barnet Society’s campaign to force British Telecom to complete High Barnet’s roll-out of high-speed broadband will get the continued support of Theresa Villiers, the Chipping Barnet MP, but she has warned that many local householders will fail to get an improved service.
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.
Two designs for a new High Street entrance to the Spires shopping centre – one of which would be without the two original spires of Barnet Methodist Church – are now on public display and open for consultation.
A final decision is expected by the end of January on the extent of financial support from the Heritage Lottery Fund towards the cost of an archaeological excavation to determine the precise site of the Battle of Barnet of 1471.
Like much of the south-east of England, Chipping Barnet is seeing a rapid rise in home extensions and offices being converted into flats. An easing of planning restrictions has given home-owners and property developers greater freedom. But are large home extensions an intrusion for neighbours? Will more flats instead of offices change the character of the town centre?
All the fun of the fair filled the High Street for the annual Barnet Christmas Fair, which many judged was the most ambitious and best supported since the event was first held twenty years ago.
New recycling service: an eyewitness report from a Barnet Society member.
High Barnet householders have been told they should become their own recycling monitors and report back to Barnet Council on the efficiency of the new service for collecting recyclable refuse.
Several thousand properties in and around High Barnet’s conservation area have been left without any clear explanation from British Telecom as to when – if ever – their premises will get a superfast broadband connection.
Six months ago planning rules were relaxed to speed up the installation of new high-speed optical fibre broadband cabinets, but British Telecom is still telling customers that it can offer no precise timescale because of “delays agreeing cabinet locations with your local council”.
Whitings Hill is hardly likely to rival New England in the fall, but two plantations planted almost 20 years ago by the Barnet Society are now resplendent with mature trees and are presenting a vibrant display of autumn colours.
Tucked away between Quinta Drive and Mays Lane, the Whitings Hill open space might be unfamiliar to many High Barnet residents, but it is a tranquil setting and a walk to the top of the hill is highly recommended.
In the two years since the Barnet Society began protesting about derelict NHS buildings nothing has changed. The abandoned Marie Foster Home in Wood Street is still an eyesore, and so is the fire-ravaged former nurses’ home at Arkley.
Continue reading Barnet’s derelict NHS buildings: Same tired excuses
A fresh start for retailing in Chipping Barnet: the Spires shopping centre has been purchased by the William Pears Group, one of Britain’s biggest privately-owned property groups which keeps a low profile but has its roots in north London. Contracts have been exchanged and the sale of the shopping centre by UBS Triton is due to be completed by late April.
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