development Archives - The Barnet Society

Posted on 2 March 2026 by Nick Jones — Leave a comment

Barnet Vale residents a step nearer the day when Tudor Park’s derelict cricket pavilion might be open again for community use

A determined community effort in Barnet Vale to rescue and renovate an abandoned former cricket pavilion at Tudor Park has achieved a major objective – and to celebrate there are new artist’s impressions of what the renovated building might look like.

After lengthy negotiations, Barnet Council has finally agreed the terms of a 50-year lease with the Friends of Tudor Park and Pavilion, paving the way for the launch of a fund-raising appeal.

A binding agreement with the council would give the friends three years to present a detailed planning application to the council for rebuilding and improving a dilapidated structure which is currently closed to the public and is in desperate need of repair.

Once the paperwork is complete and the lease has been signed, the friends can start fund raising and making appeals to the National Lottery Community Fund, local charities and other groups for financial support towards a possible target of £800,000 to £1million.

Barnet Council has already agreed a £200,000 grant from community infrastructure funds.

Simon Cohen, chair of the friends’ committee who in 2020 initiated the campaign to save the 106-year-old pavilion for community use, outlined the terms of the lease at an exhibition of the latest images.

There would be no rent to pay for the first five years; £500 a year for the following five years; then increasing at £500 a year to year 20, followed by further increases in line with inflation.

A business plan prepared by the committee proposed that the pavilion would be open for community use and a variety of activities seven days a week from 9am to 9pm. A wide range of local groups have already expressed interest in making use of the building.

Committee vice chair Simon Kaufman outlined the latest proposals and images.

Consultations with the community showed the largest support was for the refurbished pavilion to include a café, overlooking the existing Tudor Park children’s playground, with accessible public toilets, indoor and outdoor seating areas and wheelchair access.

The main hall in the pavilion would be multi-functional with additional activity spaces, more toilets, lockers and storage for space for equipment.

There would be space in the central area to seat 50 people which could be expanded to take 80 people and even as many as 120 people with sliding internal walls.

Dogged community campaign in Barnet Vale to save abandoned cricket pavilion in Tudor Park a step closer with Barnet Council agreeing a 50-year lease

Instead of the metal bars which currently close off access to the pavilion the refurbished building might feature external decorative steel panels – as seen above – which could feature motifs reflecting local history and events.

The original portico of the pavilion would be preserved but along with major structural repairs, much of the interior and exterior would need to be rebuilt with installation of new windows and doors.

All those attending the presentation were urged to keep giving their opinions and making suggestions as to how they would like to see the pavilion renovated and repurposed for the use of the community.

Posted on 28 February 202628 February 2026 by Nick Jones — 3 Comments

US tech firm reveals more about its plans to build one of Europe’s largest data centres in green belt land just to the south of Potters Bar

Potters Bar residents have had their first chance to learn more about a proposed data centre which is to be built on an 85-acre suite alongside the M25 motorway.

Itwill be so big it will almost fill the fields between the South Mimms service station at Junction 23 and Dame Alice Owen’s School – see diagram above.

Outline planning permission was approved by Hertsmere Borough Council a year ago for a 2 million square foot development which local objectors claim will be equal to the size of Wembley stadium and will obliterate green belt countryside.

Equinix, a US tech firm which is one of the world’s largest data centre operators, is proposing to invest £3.9 billion in the new centre which will be known as the Hertfordshire Campus, and which will be one of the largest in Europe.

The campus will require 250 megawatts of power – enough to run the equivalent of about 200,000 homes – and to meet the demand, National Grid is to supply the new campus with its own connection to the electricity grid ready for the data centre to come on stream in 2031.

A two-day exhibition of Equinix’s plans was held at Dame Alice Owen’s School where a group of local objectors gathered outside to express opposition to the loss of “incredibly precious countryside” for a development which they say will blight the area.

Ros Naylor (above, second from right), who is one of the lead protesters, said Potters Bar residents had enjoyed walking, riding and cycling along 11 rights of way across the fields between the outskirts of the town and the M25.

“The visual impact alone is going to obliterate local green belt land and instead we are going to have a monster development the size of Wembley stadium.”

She was joined for the protest by (from left to right) Fleur Albrecht, Councillor Simon Rhodes, and Margaret Ohren.

Councillor Rhodes, who serves on Hertfordshire County Council, pointed to the fields which would be lost when the data centre is built.

He had been shocked to discover that the emergency entrance would be via Bridgefoot Lane, directly opposite the entrance to Dame Alice Owen’s School.

“We are only just finding out what Equinix is proposing. We have checked with residents in around 1,500 houses nearby and none of them knew about it. Since January we have as a group registered 950 objections.”

Equinix is proposing to build a campus which would comprise four separate data centre buildings – three would be of 72-megawatt processing capacity and one of 48-megawatt capacity.

Building the campus at South Mimms would represent a £3.9 billion investment in the area, creating 2,500 construction jobs and 200 permanent skilled roles. The campus would generate £18 million a year in business rates.

Potters Bar residents get chance to learn more about massive data centre to be built alongside M25 motorway on fields between Junction 23 service station and Dame Alice Owen's School

In presenting an artist’s impression of how the campus would look, Equinix said it intended to retain and improve all the pedestrian, cyclist and bridle ways across the site.

During March there would be an archaeological fields inspection of the site followed an ecological survey in May.

Outline approval for the scheme was granted to a consortium known as DC01UK.

Equinix signed up to proceed with the project and the company’s aim is to submit a detailed planning application in August/September in the hope of starting construction in mid-2027 and the centre going on stream in 2031.

Posted on 28 February 202628 February 2026 by Nick Jones — 3 Comments

Redevelopment of Dollis Valley estate to be restarted after two year delay following go ahead for construction of 221 new homes

Completion of the Brook Valley Gardens estate off Mays Lane – which is a regeneration of the Dollis Valley estate – has moved a step closer.

Progress has been stalled since 2023, but a revised deal has been agreed with the developers and approved by Barnet Council.

Demolition of the remaining 1960s high-rise blocks and maisonettes will take place shortly. This will allow work to start on another 221 new homes.

The redevelopment had to be halted when the developers told the council that it was no longer economically viable to build the final 221 new homes on the basis of a split between private and social housing.

To get the regeneration of Dollis Valley back on track, the council’s cabinet has decided that the new homes that are yet to be built will now all be socially rented and under the management of Barnet Homes.

However, the failure to continue – as was originally proposed – with the construction of another 128 houses for private sale, will mean that instead of Brook Valley Gardens being a mixed-tenure neighbourhood the estate will become 60 per cent social housing.

This change has angered many of householders in privately owned homes on the estate who are organising a petition to present to a meeting of the Dollis Valley Partnership board at its annual meeting in March.

They say that Barnet Council has failed to hold any consultations about a fundamental alteration to the terms under which they purchased their houses.

“Barnet Council is bulldozing this through and have been keeping residents in the dark over Brook Valley Gardens becoming 60 per cent social housing.”

Private householders are concerned about the future saleability of their properties because mortgage lenders now take into account the percentage of social v private housing on an estate.

Because the original plan was for 50 per cent private housing, high street banks were happy to lend money on Brook Valley Gardens properties but with 60 per cent social housing future owners might be unable to obtain mortgages without resorting to specialised lenders and this could “materially affect property values for existing homeowners.”

Regeneration of Dollis Valley estate to be restarted with construction of 221 social rent homes to complete Brook Valley Gardens estate following Barnet Council approval

The remaining Mill Bridge and Garrowsfield blocks of flats and maisonettes in the Dollis Valley estate were surveyed in 2024 and were found to have widespread damp and mould.

They were deemed unsuitable for prolonged occupancy beyond December 2025 and the council decided to rehouse the tenants. Demolition is now to due start in the coming months.

The delay in finishing the estate arose because the joint developers Vistry Group (formerly Countryside Properties) and London and Quadrant declared that the original plans were no longer cost-effective.

Vistry proposed an alternative accelerated programme, and the council cabinet has now agreed to purchase 221 social and affordable rent homes from Vistry at a fixed price, subject to securing grant funding from the Greater London Authority.

On completion, Barnet Homes will manage the properties on behalf of the council. Eleven will be wheelchair accessible.

Vistry is proposing to deliver an accelerated programme of construction of replacement homes so that tenants rehoused from Mill Bridge and Garrowsfield can be prioritised to return on completion if they wish to.

Posted on 26 February 202626 February 2026 by Robin Bishop — 6 Comments

High Barnet Station – Mayor’s team set to decide own planning application

Since Barnet Council decided in December that it was minded to refuse Barratt London’s planning application, the Mayor of London has called it in for review. A public hearing seems likely directly after the local elections on 7 May 2026. The Barnet Society & Barnet Residents Association are greatly concerned that the Mayor’s decision won’t be impartial, and has sent the letter below to our MP, Barnet Councillors and its Greater London Assembly Member.

Readers are urged to make their feelings about the planning application known to Dan Tomlinson MP at dan.tomlinson.mp@parliament.uk and Assembly Member Anne Clarke at anne.clarke@london.gov.uk

We expect candidates seeking election to Barnet Council in May in wards in and around High Barnet will be asked by residents whether they are for or against the blocks of flats being proposed on the tube station car park. For some voters this will be a critical issue.

We are hoping for a clear indication of where candidates of all parties stand. The positions to be taken by our MP and GLA member are of particular interest ahead of polling day.

Dear Dan Tomlinson, Assembly Member Anne Clarke & selected Barnet Councillors

We write on behalf of the Barnet Society & Barnet Residents Association to ask if we can count on your support at the Mayor of London’s representation hearing on this planning application. As you will know, the Mayor called in the application following Barnet Council’s decision on 8 December 2025 that it was minded to refuse it.

The date for the hearing seems likely to be directly after the local elections on 7 May 2026.

Our principal concern at this point is the clear conflict of interest since the Mayor controls Transport for London, which not only owns the site and runs the tube and bus services connecting it to our neighbourhood, but has commissioned the project and stands to profit from its construction. That is setting, writing and marking your own homework.

Although the Mayor has delegated the decision to his Deputy, Jules Pipe, conflict of interest cannot be avoided since Jules Pipe has made statements in support of this and other TfL developments. He has also expressed regret at their refusal when they could not be called in. That is not an unbiased position from which to determine the future character of Chipping Barnet.

If approved, the application will have a most harmful impact on the town and its nearby green spaces, and set a benchmark for future development in the area. Visualisations in the application were cynically manipulated to downplay its deplorable visual impact.

We’d welcome well-designed homes at an appropriate scale of development. But this proposal grossly exceeds that.

Instead, it would

breach many policies in Barnet’s recently-adopted Local Plan, including its tall buildings assessment for this site endorsed by the Planning Inspectorate, and make incorrect use of the Hillingdon case to justify a tall building in this location;

create homes of unacceptably poor safety and quality in terms of layout, detailed design and amenity;
provide minimal improvements to accessibility and safety that would be negated by loss of the car park;
exacerbate existing congestion of the set-down and pick-up area, likely causing vehicles to back up onto the busy A1000;
irreparably harm the identity of the neighbourhood, nearby and from afar;
be unsustainable by many environmental standards, contrary to the developer’s claims; and
offer no compensating benefits of significance by way of transport connectivity or new/improved facilities to the existing community.

Our many pages of comments on the application detailed multiple breaches of Borough, London & National policy and guidance (some of them basic matters not revealed in earlier public consultations).

In sum, the site is unsuitable for 1,000 new residents. The resulting excessive height, density and design weaknesses – and the operational difficulties that would beset residents and travellers and the public, commercial and emergency services trying to serve them – risk repeating the mistakes of postwar housing estates. That would be to the lasting cost of our community and the identity and character of Chipping Barnet.

Regards

Robin Bishop

Planning & Environment Lead, the Barnet Society

Gordon Massey

Planning Consultant, Barnet Residents Association

The planning application can be viewed on Barnet Council’s planning portal (reference no. 25/2671/FUL). The Mayor of London’s case reference is 2025/0802/S2.

On our website you can read the Barnet Society’s objections to the scheme as well as coverage of the Council’s Planning Committee decision.

Posted on 20 February 2026 by Nick Jones — 3 Comments

Unauthorised tree felling in protected woodland at Arkley has angered residents who fear a covert attempt to secure residential development

Arkley residents who have been campaigning for several years to safeguard woodland in Rowley Lane were shocked to see protected trees being felled across a one-acre plot – and their anger increased still further when Barnet Council apparently failed to take immediate action to stop the clearance.

They say it took the council’s tree protection team over 24 hours to intervene and by then most of the trees had already been cut down. Only a few that had been badly hacked about were still standing.

The plot where the clearance has taken place is part of a ten-acre woodland which is protected by a special nature conservation order designed to protect it from any land use change which might damage a protected habitat or species.

The residents fear that if developers get their way the woodland will be turned into sites for new houses.

Once this Green Belt land has been cleared of trees, the concern in the surrounding community, is that Barnet Council might be more likely to grant planning permission, despite approval having been refused in the past.

When an adjoining one-acre plot was cleared in 2023 without permission the residents succeeded in obtaining a tree preservation order covering the whole site.

The wording of the nature conservation order was also strengthened to reflect the character of the land as “wooded with open glades of grass or scrub”.

The woodland, which is at the rear of Rowley Lodge, was sold off by a previous owner of the house and was subdivided into ten separate one-acre plots which were sold for a combined total of £1.3 million.

What has so angered the residents is that they say nothing happened on the day they complained to the council (18.2.2026) and when they notified the council again the following morning (19.2.2026) the protection team did not arrive until the afternoon.

“Within that 24-hour period the trees had been cut down. It is devastating. We now have Arkley’s very own Sycamore Gap; a woodland left with a gaping hole. It is a tragedy,” said one distraught resident.

Workmen who were challenged by the residents said the one-acre which was being cleared was being subdivided into three plots for houses.

“We have been assured planning permission will not be granted because it is Green Belt but the boarded off entrance to the woodland already has an agents’ sign indicating that plots are for sale.

When the ten acres were first sold off, five of the individual acres were purchased by householders whose properties backed on to the land and who were determined that it should be preserved as a woodland.

Two of the five acres in the hands of individual plot holders have now been cleared without permission and residents fear that there might be an attempt to prepare the other three acres for residential development.

Residents have appealed to Barnet councillor Emma Whysall to intervene of their behalf.

(Photos supplied by residents)

Posted on 1 February 20261 February 2026 by Nick Jones — 1 Comment

NatWest is closing its High Street branch following other big banks which have already pulled out of High Barnet

Barnet town centre is to lose one of its four remaining banks – and customers feared another might be going as well – as the big banks announced another massive round of branch closures.

NatWest is to close its branch at 120 High Street on Monday May 11 this year, one of 32 closures to take effect by 2027.

But despite Santander announcing 44 branch closures across the UK, the bank’s Barnet customers were relieved to see that their branch in the High Street is not on the closure list.

The closure notice on NatWest’s front door says the branch will be closing at 12noon on May 11.

Customers are advised that the nearest NatWest branch will be at 786 High Road, North Finchley, and that cash withdrawals and deposits into bank accounts can be made at Barnet Post Office.

NatWest closed its Borehamwood branch in 2022 followed by Potters Bar the following year.

Barnet’s Santander branch – which was recently refurbished – was feared to be at possible risk because the Borehamwood and Finchley branches both closed last year.

NatWest to close its High Street branch following in the wake of other big banks pulling out of High Barnet. Only three banks remain in the town centre.

Halifax closed its Barnet branch in 2024, and alterations are being made to the ground floor of the building which is to become a Lemoge health and beauty clinic.

An application has been made to convert the upper floors of the former Halifax building into four self-contained flats.

The loss of Halifax and now NatWest follows in the wake of other closures – HSBC closed in 2021 and the building now a Gail’s Bakery, and the former TSB branch has become a Costa coffee shop.

The one High Street bank which has made a promise to retain its town centre branches is Nationwide which gave a pledge in November that it would keep everyone of its 696 Nationwide and Virgin Money branches open until at least 2030.

Posted on 31 January 2026 by Robin Bishop — 4 Comments

If you go down in the woods today, you’re sure of a big surprise!

This is a Badger Boar in Chipping Barnet Woodland at 5:53 am on New Year’s Day 2026. It’s one of several fine photographs in this article by Marianne Nix, a Barnet Society member who lives opposite the spinney by Christchurch Lane and designs leaflets and posters for the Save Chipping Barnet Woodland petition. She writes here in her personal capacity.

Marianne Nix writes

As the famous old song in the headline promised, if you go down in the woods today, you’re sure of a big surprise*. But is it really that surprising that badgers, muntjac deer and other protected species live and forage 350 metres from High Barnet High Street?

In June last year ecologists did a walk-through of a small one-acre woodland on Christchurch Lane. It is in the Monken Hadley Conservation Area, Chipping Barnet. According to their Preliminary Ecological Appraisal (PEA) submitted on 13th January 2026, as part of a current planning application to build a six-bed mansion with cinema, swimming pool and space to park three cars, they found little to persuade them or the Developer employing them, Christchurchgrove Ltd, that there was much of note in this Woodland with no official name.

The temporarily named ‘Chipping Barnet Woodland’ is sandwiched between Old Fold Manor Golf Course and Hadley Green. If you are on a gentle stroll with push chair, dog, a chatty friend, running or walking between your home and place of work, it could take you as little as 5 minutes to reach High Barnet High Street. The Woodland is a tranquil pocket of peace buffering a busy urban existence on the edge of London.

Christchurchgrove Ltd and Barnet Recreational Trust made a conditional sale agreement with Barnet Council Estates to purchase the Woodland if planning permission is granted. The planning application is for the ‘Demolition of the existing garage and erection of a new two storey dwelling with rooms in the roof space. Associated landscaping, off street parking and refuse/recycling storage’.

On first reading, the PEA may sound reasonable. Until you visit the site. When I first moved to High Barnet, and next to the Woodland three years ago, I set up a trail camera in my garden and was delighted to find hedgehogs scootling about. I discovered bats in my attic and much to my surprise, my garden trail camera video revealed a badger shrouded in mist.

In July 2024, after learning of the potential development threat, I emailed Barnet Council biodiversity officers and others about my dismay. I included the images I mentioned above of a bat, a hedgehog and a badger. I assumed the data would become part of the ecology base line of the area and available to future ecologists via Barnet Council. My hope was that any developer would think twice about building on the land. It was clear to me then that the Council’s moral duty was to protect the Woodland.

The local community was getting nowhere with their attempts to convince the Council and our local MP Dan Tomlinson of the travesty of selling the Woodland for development. Last July a group got together and created the campaign group Save Chipping Barnet Woodland (SCBW). One of the first steps was to find out what data ecologists might find on the wildlife and habitat in the woodland. With no budget, the campaign group approached GiGL (Greenspace Information Greater London) who provide data to ecologists. We were dismayed to discover there were few wildlife records of the site and its surroundings. My bat, hedgehog and badger were not mentioned. We started collecting data of our own and sending it to Barnet Council and GiGL as citizen scientists. These records should form a baseline in the GiGL database for future reference.

Fortunately, many Barnet residents do have their eyes open to the magic of nature. This is demonstrated by the support from over 2,250 signatures to our Save Chipping Barnet Woodland petition started in mid-September 2025. Our campaign, with a core group of approximately 35 local resident members, has devoted much of their spare time proving what two so called ‘experts’ employed to carry out a preliminary ecological appraisal did not appear to observe, record or acknowledge. On nearly every occasion we used date and time-stamped trail cameras we were pleasantly surprised to record more than a fox or two. We captured images and video of badger, muntjac deer, woodmouse and more.

Below, at 9am a male fox goes about his morning business quite hidden just a few meters away from passers-by on Christchurch Lane going about theirs.

However, Andrew Robinson, Director of Christchurchgrove Ltd. goes as far as to say in his response to an article published before Christmas in The Barnet Society online edition:

‘The site…has low levels of biodiversity. We know this because we have had it surveyed by an expert ecologist…This survey has shown that there are absolutely [no] mammals living here. No badgers, foxes, bats, deer or hedgehogs…or, in fact, any protected species.’

Astonishingly the PEA commissioned by him states on page 28 that there may be hedgehogs!

‘…it is considering [sic] that breeding and foraging hedgehog may be present within the Site and be impacted by the proposed works.’

The largest Oak tree that stands in the Woodland, and verified as Veteran by the Ancient Tree register, has numerous holes and cavities possibly suitable for bats. There are Birch with multiple holes in the middle of the site. And of course there is my very own roost in my attic within 30 metres of the site. I love my bats. It’s a nice feeling thinking of them hanging about, sleeping and then warming up by flying about my roof space before launching themselves, weather permitting, into the canopy of the woodland.

Below is the Veteran Oak with cavities possibly suitable for bat roost.

Much to my surprise the existence of the bat roost in my attic and the licence to do minor works I obtained in 2023 – 2025 from the Bat Conservation Trust are not mentioned in the ecologist reports.

‘Therefore, it is considering [sic] that potential for the Site to support roosting bats is negligible—no impacts from the proposed works to these species are anticipated’ (PEA, page 22).

There is a badger sett confirmed by Herts & Middlesex Badger group in January. The setts are protected. They were discovered by two of our volunteers, not the ‘expert ecologist’. Also there is no acknowledgment of the sett in the ecological reports.

‘…it is considered that the potential for the Site to support breeding, foraging and resting badger is negligible— no impact from the proposed works to this species are anticipated’ (PEA, page 22).

There are other inaccuracies in the application. I have complained to the Council. But to no avail. The application inaccuracies cannot be changed. It appears there is no governance that can stop the misleading of the public. The developer is encouraged to hold public ‘consultations’ to ‘listen’ and make adjustments to their application. There are no rules regarding the accuracy of their presentations. We, the residents of Barnet, to my knowledge, officially have no framework to put across the alternative ‘facts’ to the public. The planning system has to change. This week on Tuesday there was a Barnet Council meeting to discuss making the planning system more democratic. Unfortunately I was too busy saving Chipping Barnet Woodland to attend.

Our images and videos show that the habitat combining a range of trees including Cherry Laurel appears to be functioning well. The badgers, foxes, muntjac deer, woodmice, multiple bird species such as Tawny Owl and Mistle Thrush on Amber or Red conservation list and seen rarely elsewhere, all appreciate the ‘novel ecosystem’ found in the ‘Woodland with no name’. (British Ecological Society, Sept 11th 2024: ‘Novel ecologies the new normal?’)

Below, species seen within 50 metres of the Woodland – left to right: Small Copper Butterfly; Common Frog; Smooth Newt, Male.

The wildlife love the Woodland, judging by their repeated and lengthy stays captured on video earlier this month when freezing conditions made the ground elsewhere rock solid. The deep leaf litter and protection of the canopy and understory keeps the ground soft. This allows for lingering and rooting in the leaf debris. There appears to be lots to eat; a good sign of a strong ecosystem. The PEA and Biodiversity Net Gain assessment submitted as part of the planning application belies the truth of what we can see with our own eyes, even if it is a surprise!

To make your own comments regarding the planning application ref 26/0116/FUL go to Barnet Council Planning Applications. Deadline Thursday 12th February 2026. If you have difficulty accessing the planning portal, you can submit your comments by alternative ways listed here.

Above, a Muntjac Buck, a frequent visitor to the Woodland.

*Songwriters: Jimmy Kennedy / John W. Bratton

Teddy Bear Picnic lyrics © Wb Music Corp., Emi Music Publishing Ltd, M Witmark & Sons, Emi Music Publishing Ltd, B Feldman & Co Ltd

Posted on 26 January 202626 January 2026 by Nick Jones — 1 Comment

Bid to safeguard Black Horse public house for community use amid continuing doubts about its future despite Star Pubs’ re-assurances

An attempt is being made to safeguard the long-term future of a Barnet landmark, the Black Horse public house, which has been closed to the public since mid-September last year.

Barnet Council is being asked to declare the building an asset of community value which would ensure the community had a chance to buy the property should there be an attempt to sell it for redevelopment.

Star Pubs, which said before Christmas that it hoped to find a new tenant starting in the New Year, has admitted that the company, which is part of Heineken UK, is still has no nearer to saying when the pub might re-open.

“The Black Horse is a much-loved pub, and we are committed to keeping it as such,” said Star Inns in a statement to the Barnet Society.

“We remain keen to re-open it as soon as possible but are unable to provide timings at this stage.

“As soon as we have more information, we will be happy to share it.”

The application for an asset of community value order has been submitted in the name of the Barnet parish church of St John the Baptist on behalf of the community, says Olly Gough.

Olly, who is to be a Labour candidate for the May elections to Barnet Council, has organised a petition to the save pub which has attracted over 3,500 signatures.

https://www.change.org/p/save-the-black-horse-chipping-barnet-list-it-as-an-asset-of-community-value

Barnet Council has eight weeks to make a decision on the application and, if approved, Olly says the ACV order would given the community “a real say in the pub’s future and help protect it as a proper local”.

In his campaign to save the pub, Olly has been publicising one of the early pictures of the Black Horse back in the day when a horse drinking trough and lamppost formed an effective mini roundabout at the Ravenscroft Park junction of Wood Street and Stapylton Road.

He says the strength of support for the petition reflects the news coverage which has been given to his campaign by the BBC, London Evening Standard, Barnet Post, Morning Advertiser and the Barnet Society.

“Thanks to everyone who has backed this campaign. Fingers cross for a good outcome.”

An ACV was issued in March 2024 to safeguard the future of the Prince of Wales public house in East Barnet which was closed by the Stonegate Group but was finally rescued and re-opened by the Heartwood Collection group of inns and hotels.

Once an ACV is registered, an owner wishing to sell the asset or to lease it for more than 25 years, is legally obliged to notify the relevant local authority.

Barnet Council will then inform those making the application – in this case the Barnet parish church – which would signal an interim moratorium period of six weeks during which the community could express an interest in taking on the asset.

If a community does express an interest in taking on the Black Horse, then a full moratorium is triggered and the property may not be sold on the market for a six-month period, which would give time for the formation of a residents’ group to consider their options.

Posted on 25 January 202625 January 2026 by Nick Jones — 2 Comments

Pressure to offer and retain workrooms and offices close to Barnet town centre, but developers claim there is no demand for employment space

Barnet Council is facing another challenge to its policy of encouraging developers to keep or offer space for workrooms and offices in new housing developments close to High Barnet town centre.

So far, the council’s attempt to ensure that affordable space for employment is available is failing to attract tenants as indicated by the number of “To Let” signs.

The latest challenge revolves around a fresh application to change the use of Highlands House in Bath Place, just off the High Street – see above – to provide seven self-contained one-bedroom flats.

Previously Highlands House was used for offices and graphic printing by sign makers RHM Event Graphics who have moved to premises at Borehamwood.

Subsequently the building has remained vacant, and other developers in the vicinity say the lack of demand for commercial space close to the town centre is underlined by the failure to find a tenant for a potential affordable workspace in the adjoining Lightfield housing development.

When dealing with planning applications, the council has been insisting that in line with the Barnet local plan, affordable employment space should be provided when new housing developments replace commercial and industrial premises.

In the case of Highlands House, council planners will have to decide whether prior approval is required for a change of use following new government regulations on permitted development.

An application to convert Highlands House to flats was rejected last year on the grounds that it would have a “detrimental effect” on the free flow of traffic and highway safety in Bath Place.

But this latest application states the seven flats would be car free and the developers would enter a legal agreement to restrict car parking permits.

Just a few yards away from Highlands House is an empty site – see above – which was earmarked for affordable workspace when approval was given to Shanly Homes to provide 40 homes in flats and houses on the new Lightfield estate, just off the High Street.

Lightfield was built on the site of Brake Shear House which once housed 20 businesses in small factories and workshops which had a combined employment floorspace of 4,000 square metres.

When granting permission for Lightfield, the council stipulated that the site should retain 754 square metres of employment space.

Since the completion of the new estate, the developers say there has been no interest in developing the available commercial floor space and this prompted a fresh application to build a four-storey block which would have comprised eight flats with a ground floor offering 210 square metres of employment space.

However, after this application was refused, the developers took their case to a planning inquiry, only to find that the inspector backed the council.

In his report, the inspector said there was no evidence the employment space had been advertised at a genuinely competitive price; the developers had not demonstrated satisfactorily that there was no demand; and building additional flats would mean a “significant decrease in the employment potential of the site”.

In support of its wider policy of seeking mixed development, the council has intervened to see if a tenant can be found for vacant community space on the ground floor of a new block of flats in Salisbury Road.

This follows the council’s refusal for permission to convert vacant community space on the ground floor of the new block – see above – into a three-bedroom flat.

Again, the developers say that despite having been “extensively marketed” for four years there has been minimal interest in hiring the community space.

In an attempt to find a potential tenant, the council is to contact community groups and local charities to see if there is any interest.

The ground floor space of 1,280 square feet is on the market for a guide sale price of £400,000 or an annual rent of £25,000.

Another vacant commercial space which has been on the market for some considerable time is on the ground floor of new flats in Moxon Street – see above – which were built after the demolition of a car repair business and a former Salvation Army Hall.

Posted on 22 January 20267 February 2026 by Robin Bishop — 7 Comments

Planning application in to build a house in Christchurch spinney

Above is a visualisation of the new 6-bedroom house proposed by its designers, Alan Cox Architects, in secluded woodland barely 200 metres from Barnet High Street. The site is described by the applicants as ‘unkempt’, and by locals petitioning against development as a ‘wildlife haven’. The site is within the Monken Hadley Conservation Area and close to the Green Belt. Some trees have individual Tree Preservation Orders; however all the trees are protected by the conservation area status.

The application is a test of Barnet Council’s commitment to protecting the environment. You can comment on the proposals until Thursday 12 February – see below for details.

Barnet Council declared a Climate and Biodiversity Emergency in 2022. Barnet Labour’s Green Manifesto promised to ‘Protect ALL existing green spaces in the Borough’. And its recently-adopted Local Plan contains policies and supplementary planning documents specifically to protect green spaces. Mayor Khan has similar planning policies, and recently consulted on London’s first Nature Recovery Plan to reverse biodiversity loss.

The site is mainly established deciduous woodland. Although small in area its ecological value is great because it provides a vital undisturbed ‘green corridor’ for the transit of insects, animals and flying creatures between the Old Fold Manor golf course and Hadley Green, both of which are in the Green Belt. It is not managed, however, and its biodiversity is limited by the dominance of cherry laurel and bramble on the east side of the site.

In 2024 the Council authorised the sale of part of the spinney that it owns for £430,000, subject to the buyer obtaining planning consent.

The planning application is by Christchurchgrove Ltd, a developer in a joint venture with Barnet Recreation Trust (BRT), which owns the other part of the present site. BRT is a charity that supports ‘the provision of facilities in the interest of social welfare for recreational and leisure-time occupation’ locally.

Both organisations would profit from the sale of the substantial (567 sq m) new house and garden that would occupy about a third of the site. The house-owner would be responsible for the rest of the (0.4 hectare / 1 acre) site, which includes almost all the existing protected trees. (See plan below by Helene Landscape and Garden Design).

A public consultation on the proposals was held before Christmas, and Nick Jones’s report on that can be found here. You can also read my earlier post on the issues this project raises for nature protection.

Ideally, the Barnet Society would like to see Christchurch spinney and its wildlife conserved, enhanced and protected, with a minimum of landscaping to enable some public access. In practice, that would require funding and organisation that the Council can’t currently provide. It’s a pity no effort seems to have been made to find a community group or charity to take it on.

Although we’d prefer no house to be built at all, we wouldn’t object to permission being given for one on the least ecologically valuable part of the site on certain conditions:

The house and garden must be in keeping with their natural setting.
They must be built to high environmental standards.
The site as a whole must be subject to a long-term management plan to safeguard and enhance the environment.

The scheme the Society was shown last year fell short on all these counts. To the developer’s credit, however, it has been improved in the light of our comments. Overall, therefore, we’re neutral about the application. But because we aren’t yet convinced about a number of critical details, we’ll submit a list of conditions that must be met before approval.

How you can comment

Have your say one of these ways:

on the Council’s planning portal (ref. no. 26/0116/FUL) via the Comments tab;
email comments direct to planning.consultation@barnet.gov.uk (cc tania.sacordeiro@barnet.gov.uk); or
post your comments to the Planning Officer: Tania Sa Cordeiro, Planning and Building Control, Barnet Council, 2 Bristol Avenue, Colindale, NW9 4EW.

In the cases of 2 & 3, be sure to include:

the application ref. no. (26/0116/FUL) clearly at the top
the site address (Land Opposite 15 Sunset View Barnet EN5 4LB) and
your name, address and postcode.

Sending a copy to our MP dan.tomlinson.mp@parliament.uk and to your local Councillors will increase the effectiveness of your comments.

Posted on 20 January 202620 January 2026 by Nick Jones — 1 Comment

Barnet Football Club abandons planning appeal over stadium at Underhill as Bring Barnet Back identifies possible new locations

A short list of four or five possible locations for a new stadium for Barnet Football Club is now being considered in depth by supporters of the Bring Barnet Back campaign after lengthy discussions with Barnet councillors and planners.

In view of what the campaign says is now a “very positive” dialogue, the club has decided not to appeal against the strategic planning committee’s refusal last July to approve an application for a new stadium on Barnet playing fields at Underhill.

The last date for an appeal is January 24, but the Bring Back Barnet campaigners urged the club’s chairman Tony Kleanthous against challenging the council.

“Constructive conversations” with councillors and planners have succeeded in producing a shared sense of good will over the push to secure a move from the club’s existing stadium at The Hive, Harrow, and a return to the town.

A total of 51 alternative sites for a stadium were identified and evaluated by the campaign and the highest scoring four to five sites will now be assessed in greater detail.

They are all in what is described as a “ring of suitable sites” – in an area within High Barnet, New Barnet and East Barnet.

As an indication their good faith in trying to find a site acceptable to the council, the campaigner says they will not identify sites on their short list so as to prevent the long-standing controversy over Barnet FC’s return to the town becoming a political football at the council elections in May.

Bring Barnet Back had been thinking of whether to promote candidates – or a symbolic single candidate – in the May elections to demonstrate the strength of their support but decided against the move so as not to jeopardise the constructive relationship which they have established with councillors across the political parties.

However, the campaign will establish a clear public record of which candidates “clearly articulate” their backing for the principle of the club’s return so that supporters can make “informed decisions”.

The application for a new stadium at Underhill was rejected by the strategic planning committee last July – see supporters above outside the town hall at Hendon – on the grounds that it failed to demonstrate “very special circumstances” for breaching the Green Belt.

Barnet FC’s planning consultants, WSP, and other consultants, advised that the club would have a “very good opportunity” to appeal on the grounds that the government was now encouraging certain developments within what was deemed “Grey Belt” land.

But the campaign feared an appeal might take 12 to 18 months, with no guarantee of success and even less likelihood of the council agreeing to lease a site on Barnet playing fields.

Conversations over the last few months have indicated that councillors believed the campaign had not been “sufficiently explicit” about why returning to the town was essential for the club.

At stake was the long-term sustainability of the club, given its reliance on continued financial support for the chairman.

The current stadium at the Hive is over an hour away from Barnet on public transport and over a quarter of the club’s local fans no longer attend, creating an annual deficit for Barnet FC of over £1 million.

“Without a permanent asset – a stadium – in its home town, the club’s long-term future remains structurally insecure.

“We now believe there is a shared understanding with all councillors we have spoken to that this is not a matter of sentiment, but of sustainability.”

However, the campaign recognised that the needs of the football club could not be considered in isolation and needed to be grounded in the “delivery of clear, substantial and demonstrable community benefit”.

Although the July application for a stadium had included proposals for a sports hub, medical facilities and wider economic benefits for the town, councillors were clear that a fresh application needed to be “more tightly and explicitly” linked to the need for additional community facilities and collaboratively designed to help deliver the council’s wider objectives.

Any revised plan would take into account issues like the number of school pupils with special education needs, how best to alleviate pressure on the adult social care budget, community-based medical provision and support for young people.

“Prior to these conversations Bring Back Barnet did not fully understand why the original application failed; these discussions have now provided clarity and are reshaping the approach going forward.

“Councillors stressed the importance of designing proposals with them rather than for them.

“The original application was perceived as presenting a largely complete scheme, with limited opportunity for councillors and officers to shape its form, priorities and trade-offs at an early stage.

“Finally, councillors highlighted the need for deeper consultation with key local groups prior to submission.

“In particular, the opposition from Northway School and Ark Pioneer Academy was seen as avoidable had those institutions been engaged meaningfully at an earlier stage.

“When a suitable location is identified and finalised by the planners, Bring Barnet Back will work with local groups to ensure the plans benefit as many as possible.”

Barnet Barnet Back campaign says it has short list of four to five locations for a new stadium for Barnet FC following club's decision to appeal over Underhill plan

Whereas the previously suggested Barnet playing fields site had scored strongly on technical planning grounds, it failed to meet the political test required for approval.

Therefore, any alternative site would have to command sufficient support from councillors to secure permission.

Until further enquiries, technical work and extensive private consultation, the campaign will not reveal the location of the four to five sites on its short list.

“Publishing a potential site prematurely, without full due diligence, would be irresponsible. It would risk exposing early-stage options to speculation, misinformation and unnecessary opposition.

“We fully understand – and share – the frustration this lack of public detail may cause. However, particularly in an election year, it is essential that any future proposals are robust, well-evidenced and carefully prepared.”

Bring Barnet Back statement in full: https://public.hey.com/p/76F1KjJccqW7Q9577B1aTzg3

Posted on 17 January 202617 January 2026 by Nick Jones — 2 Comments

Wish list from Marks and Spencer targets High Barnet and New Barnet among sites across the borough as possible locations for a new food hall

High Barnet and New Barnet are two of ten districts within the London Borough of Barnet which are on a wish list of potential sites for a new Marks and Spencer food hall.

M&S plans to double its number of stores across the country and has named 197 possible locations within Greater London.

The ten within the Borough of Barnet are Brent Cross Town, Cricklewood, East Finchley, Edgware, Finchley, Golders Green, Hendon, High Barnet, Mill Hill East and New Barnet.

Currently an M&S food hall at Whetstone is closed while the premises are being upgraded to offer more products and to include a new bakery and coffee counter.

Until it re-opens in the spring, customers are being advised to use M&S food stores in Friern Barnet and Southgate.

In announcing its expansion programme, M&S has identified a wish list of 500 locations across the country and the company’s aim over the coming years is to almost double its existing 330 stores to 420 dedicated food shops and 180 mixed stores.

Within the M25 the company says it is targeting sites which benefit from strong public transport links and a steady footfall throughout the week and are capable of delivering an M&S food hall with a trading space of between 6,000 and 18,000 square feet.

Large sites are need so that the food halls can stock the full range of M&S food, offer wider aisles for bigger shopping trolleys, and large car parks for more family shoppers.

High Barnet and New Barnet are on a wish list for a site for a new Marks and Spencer food hall

Perhaps one of the few, if only sites, within the High Barnet town centre which might attract the interest of M&S would be premises within The Spires Shopping Centre or a site on surrounding land presently used for a staff car park and the Chipping Close car park (on the former Barnet Market site).

Plans to redevelop The Spires with shops along a through walkway, together with the construction of five and six storey blocks of flats, appear to have been in abeyance since administrators took control after the owners, BYM Capital, became insolvent in 2023.

An M&S local food store at 146 Barnet High Street – and a Sainsbury Local which replaced it – were both closed some years ago after becoming loss making.

Posted on 3 January 20263 January 2026 by Nick Jones — 2 Comments

Plan for additional flat rejected as Barnet Council still hopes tenant might be found for vacant community space close to Barnet High Street

Barnet Council has intervened to see if a tenant can be found for vacant community space on the ground floor of a block of flats which were built in Salisbury Road after the demolition of the former Fern Room, once the home of Barnet Old People’s Welfare Committee.

After failing since 2021 to either sell or rent the community space, the developers applied for permission to convert the ground floor into a three-bedroom flat – an application that was rejected last year.

This refusal has now prompted the council’s intervention as the planners were not prepared to allow the loss of a possible community facility so close to the town centre.

The council says it wants to work with the developers to see if a tenant can be found for a broader range of openings including possible flexible work, retail or community use as part of the town centre improvement.

Community groups and local charities – together with Chipping Barnet Town Team – are being alerted to see if there is any organisation which might be able to make use of the space.

Given the financial pressures on the voluntary sector, it is perhaps no surprise that the developers have failed to find a new tenant – the ground floor space of 1,280 square feet is on the market for a guide sale price of £400,000 or an annual rent of £25,000.

A report presented to the council on behalf of the owners by real estate advisers Newsteer says that despite having been “extensively marketed” for four years there has been minimal interest in the space for community use.

Therefore a “logical beneficial re-use” would be to convert the space into a three-bedroom flat, but the council’s planning department disagreed.

After refusing plan for additional flat Barnet Council intervenes to see if a tenant can be found for vavant community space close to Barnet High Street

Barnet Old People’s Welfare Committee – which provided activities for Barnet’s elderly residents for 75 years – had to vacate the Fern Room in 2017 when it was purchased by SAS Investments to make way for the new of flats.

Eviction from its day centre meant the loss of a wide range of activities including coffee mornings, a social advice centre, and the running of evergreen clubs and minibus outings.

After paying £875 a quarter to rent the Fern Room, the committee realised it would be unable to afford the new community space which SAS Investments said would be increased in size to 1,600 square feet and offered for hire to a much wider range of uses including sports activities such as 5-a-side football.

In the event the new community space was reduced to 1,280 square feet – the same as the Fern Room – and the planning committee noted that it remains an empty shell although the 2019 planning approval stated it would be “fully fitted out and ready for use.”

Failure to fit out the space had made the rent “potentially prohibitive” for some prospective community use and the planners considered the developers had presented insufficient evidence that the facility was no longer required.

The proposed new ground-floor flat would have no private amenity space and high-level windows to the bedrooms would provide inadequate daylight and a poor outlook, resulting in a poor standard of accommodation.

“Consequently, the proposal would provide only a single additional residential unit and whilst in a sustainable location, would not outweigh the harm resulting from the total loss of a community facility without adequate justification.”

When first applying to demolish the Fern Room, SAS Investments said it was a “very dilapidated, inefficient building” but respected the longstanding community use of the Salisbury Road site and were anxious to work with local community groups by providing a new and much larger community space.

The loss of the Fern Room is an illustration of the on-off, piecemeal development of Barnet town centre.

The site was sold by Barnet Council to the developers of The Spires shopping centre in 2009 and passed on through the ownership of UBS, the William Pears group and Hunter Asset Management before being sold to SAS Investments for redevelopment in 2017.

Posted on 17 December 202517 December 2025 by Nick Jones — 4 Comments

Hadley Green residents line up in opposition to housing development in their conservation area

Fine period houses in their own sizeable grounds and gardens are a feature of the tree lined roads and footpaths around Hadley Green – all adding to the character of the Monken Hadley Conservation Area.

That settled harmony of the locality with its clusters of mature trees is about to challenged by a contentious proposal to seek planning permission to build a large new architect designed house with its own swimming pool.

A wooded plot on the western edge of Hadley Green – alongside Christ Church Lane at the junction with Sunset View – is the proposed site for what would be a new five-bedroom double fronted property to be built in the Arts and Crafts style.

Nearby residents say the vast majority of those living in adjoining roads are firmly opposed to new housing on the one-acre plot because it would threaten protected trees and disrupt a local wildlife corridor.

They fear they are faced with a speculative proposal aimed at getting planning consent to build inside the conservation area.

Mounting opposition within the neighbourhood was all too apparent after the developers Christchurchgrove Ltd held a public consultation to unveil their plans – opposition to which was led by residents in Gladsmuir Road, Hadley Gove and Christ Church Lane.

Stuart Lees of Alan Cox Architects told Jenny Remfry, a nearby resident and Barnet Society vice president, that steps would be taken to safeguard mature trees on the site, most of which are already covered by tree protection orders, and there would be other measures to enhance the biodiversity of the woodland.

In fact, the new house would be surrounded by trees and as a result would be hardly visible, which had been one of the aims in the design.

But Dr Remfry asked why have such restricted views of the new property when much was being made of the fact that it was in the Arts and Crafts style in a design which reflected the Arts and Crafts houses in Sunset View – see above.

“What makes this area so appealing is that people admire the magnificent period houses and villas in and around Hadley Green. They like looking at them.

“If the developers are going to all the trouble of designing an Arts and Crafts style new house surely it should be more visible?”

Controversial application to build a large house in Hadley Green woodland in Monken Hadley conservation area.

Mr Lees accepted that the new house would be larger than other nearby houses, but it matched the scale of the plot and was in character with the historic pattern of residential development in sizable plots with cultivated gardens.

Most of the objections revolve around the loss of natural habitat if the woodland becomes the site of a new house.

Stuart Robinson, planning adviser for the project, acknowledged that there might have been a case for building more than one house but trees on 70 per cent of the site were safeguarded by protection orders.

However, the site had “relatively low ecological value” at present largely due to the prevalence of invasive non-native plants and general neglect.

If the site was properly managed, it would contribute more to the biodiversity of the area, and the developers would be legally bound for 30 years to ensure there was a net biodiversity gain.

Similarly, in order to reassure local residents that they were not planning to build more houses on the land, there would be a covenant on the planning application to restrict the site to one house.

Project manager Andrew Robinson said that the purpose of the public presentation was to answer rumours about their intentions and to reassure residents that the application was restricted to one house and that with enhancement they were proposing there would be a biodiversity gain for the next 30 years.

Nonetheless nearby residents told the Barnet Society they remained sceptical about the likelihood of the proposed house ever being built.

They were also concerned about the ownership of the land which is currently in the joint ownership of Barnet Recreational Trust and Barnet Council.

Christchurchgrove Ltd has a purchase agreement with the council, conditional upon obtaining planning permission.

An application for planning approval is due to be presented to the council early next year.

Posted on 5 December 202522 January 2026 by Robin Bishop — 11 Comments

Public consultation on proposed new house in Christchurch Lane spinney

Local developer Christchurch Grove Ltd expects to submit a planning application soon to build a house within existing woodland on the east side of Christchurch Lane (see plan above by Helene Landscape and Garden Design). It raises an increasingly urgent question in Barnet: how much, if any, green space should be sacrificed for new homes?

I wrote about this peaceful haven of wildlife less than 200 metres from Barnet High Street in a recent web post. Situated within the Monken Hadley Conservation Area, with numerous trees protected by Tree Protection Orders, it forms a ‘green corridor’ between two major pieces of Green Belt land, Old Fold Manor golf course and Hadley Green. Its value for biodiversity is greater than its small size (0.438 hectare / 1 acre) would suggest. https://www.savechippingbarnetwoodland.org/ is petitioning to save it from development.

The Barnet Society got involved 18 months ago when the Council decided to sell its portion of the land for £430,000, subject to the buyer obtaining planning consent. Since the part of the site where development is proposed has the least ecological value, a case could be made for building a single house.

Our concerns were twofold. The quality of the wood had to be conserved and enhanced wherever possible. And any house and garden must be in keeping with their natural setting and built to high environmental standards.

The initial plans fell short on all counts. To the developer’s credit, the scheme has now been revised. Whether it meets our original concerns we’ll find out at a public consultation on Friday 12 December from 4.30pm till 7:00pm at Pennefather Hall (next door to Christ Church), St Albans Rd, Barnet, EN5 4AL.

The developer’s team of planning, architectural, ecology and Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) consultants will be on hand to advise on their proposals. They are also offering to place a covenant on the site to the Barnet Planners to restrict planning permission to one residential property only, to allay concerns about any future or further development of the land.

They trust that this transparency will dispel many negative comments, especially on the ecology and BNG improvements to the site.

There is limited parking available on site, which is only a 5-minute walk from The Spires and alternative parking.

Below is a visualisation of the proposed house by Alan Cox Architects.

Response from Andrew Robinson, Project Manager, Christchurch Grove Ltd.

As the person responsible for bringing forward the plans for a new home on this neglected pocket of land in Hadley Green, I am obliged to the Barnet Society, for giving me the opportunity to correct a number of errors in the recent article and the basis for the petition which has recently been organised.

Robin’s article queries that the site in Christ Church Lane, which he describes as a “haven of wildlife” has not been included in the London’s wildlife plan [Nature Recovery Plan]. The answer is simple. Whilst the site is home to a number of fine tress (all of which are protected) it has a low level of biodiversity. We know this because we have had it surveyed by an expert ecologist.

This survey has shown that there are absolutely [no] mammals living here. No badgers, foxes, bats, deer or hedgehogs as the promoter of the recent petition would have you believe or, in fact, any protected species.

Nature needs nurturing. Unfortunately, this site been left unkempt for over 60 years! Whilst many of us see an abundance of greenery as a good thing, here the result of our survey has shown that due to neglect the area has become overrun by invasive species which are undermining the quality of the soil and preventing daylight to the understorey, thereby killing of what remains of the indigenous habitat.

We all know that wildlife needs help to flourish in urban environments. That is why the scheme that we will bring forward will guarantee a habitat management scheme supervised by experts. This will cover 70% of the site with the remainder forming the garden for the new home.

Gardens themselves are good for nature of course. The RHS research has shown that levels of biodiversity are just as high in cultivated gardens and that is why Hadley Green generally benefits from having so many. Even with a new home here built within the site, we will provide a 10% increase in biodiversity!

Indeed, according to the Council’s Conservation Area Appraisal a quarter of Monken Hadley is in residential use, typically large houses, in substantial plots with cultivated gardens. So I question why would any supporter of the Barnet Society want to oppose a plan for scheme which so typifies the area.

Why would anyone support the continuation of neglect of an area where the habitat and protected trees are being slowly eroded by invasive species?

I would also like to point out that the beneficiaries of this proposal will be Barnet residents. That is because the two landowners promoting it are, the Council and the Barnet Recreational Trust. The latter is a local charity which in the last five years has financially supported almost twenty different local organisations including the Parish of Monken Hadley where it has recently donated £110,000 toward the re-building of the Church Hall. The proceeds flowing from this project would similarly be invested.

Finally, I would like to thank all those who attended our public consultation last week. I was grateful to be able to have the opportunity of providing the evidence behind the claims we have made in relation to the project. If anyone who was not able to attend would like to see the material, please do not hesitate to let me know.

Footnote I would also like to put the record straight as regards that my option deal is with Barnet Estates and not with Barnet Homes.

Posted on 26 November 20252 December 2025 by Robin Bishop — 2 Comments

Judgment Day for High Barnet Place

UPDATE 2 DECEMBER 2025 Back in September, the Barnet Society submitted a 64-page critique of the planning application for 283 flats on High Barnet Station car park. The application will be decided by the Strategic Planning Committee at 7:00pm on Monday 8 December.

You can find our full submission here (dated 17 November). 802 objections have been received by the Council and only 104 ‘supports’. Strangely, many ‘supporters’ of the application show no knowledge of the site and have been canvassed by an organisation called Just Build Homes.

Despite the unambiguous proof of local opposition to this application, the Planning Officer is recommending its approval. The Council is committed to delivery of new housing and its Planning Committee could accept the recommendation. If it refuses permission, the developer is likely to appeal against the decision.

Alongside Barnet Residents Association we stand ready to speak at the meeting. If you care about the outcome, you can attend the meeting at Hendon Town Hall or watch via video.

Since the original application, Places for London have submitted numerous amendments and clarifications, which they claim respond to consultation feedback.

The design amendments are mostly minor changes to the appearance and internal layout of the buildings. Their height and footprint are unaltered. Misleading errors in key views have not been corrected. The Barnet Society’s extensive criticisms have been ignored.

High among our concerns is the almost complete lack of improvements to accessibility and safety for both residents and users of the station – indeed their worsening through loss of the car park.

We are also convinced that the site that should never have been considered suitable for 1,000 new residents. The resulting excessive density and poor design – and the operational difficulties that will beset tube users, residents and the public, commercial and emergency services trying to serve them – risk repeating the mistakes of postwar housing estates. That would be to the lasting cost of the community, Council and the identity and character of Chipping Barnet.

Posted on 6 November 20257 November 2025 by Nick Jones — 1 Comment

Former public house The Jester – the haunted house of New Barnet – is finally levelled by demolition contractors

After a seven-year campaign New Barnet community activist Ros Howarth finally says farewell to the last remnants of the abandoned public house The Jester which was left wrecked after a fire in 2018.

Demolition contractors have spent several days levelling the derelict pub which had remained an eyesore after protracted disputes over its future and then a series of contested planning applications.

Approval was given in May last year for the site – at the junction of Northfield Road and Grove Road – to be redeveloped with a three-storey children’s nursery and three houses.

Built in 1958 as a result of a petition from residents, The Jester became a well frequented pub and restaurant.

The fire seven years ago – photograph above by Oliver Jennings – was said at the time to have been a heart-breaking blow for the community.

Ros Howarth and other campaigners fought tirelessly for the construction of a replacement public house or some other community building to benefit the locality.

“It’s a bitter-sweet moment,” she said.

“Everyone around here has been delighted to see it being demolished but we are disappointed. We wanted a new community pub or cafe.

“Instead, approval has been given for a private children’s nursery with up to 100 places.

“We already have three council-run nurseries within walking distance, and we don’t think there will be the demand for a private nursery.”

The final go ahead for the demolition of what had been dubbed New Barnet’s haunted house was a relief for Barnet Councillors.

East Barnet Councillor Simon Radford – above far right, with Councillor Phil Cohen and Councillor Edith David – said he and his colleagues shared the disappointment of nearby residents that the owners of the site had not opted to construct a new community pub.

“While we won’t be getting pub, we will have a children’s nursery which is certainly better than the haunted house which has stood there for the last seven years.”

Councillor Radford paid tribute to the resolve shown by the community.

“Ros Howarth has been a tremendous advocate for their campaign to get a replacement for the pub, and they demonstrated there was a viable alternative.”

Ros Howarth – founder of the Justice for Jester Facebook page – said she doubted whether a private nursery with up to 100 places would be viable.

Construction work is due to last for 18 months with the development completed by the spring of 2027.

The fear of nearby residents was that the new building – see developer’s image above – might at some stage be converted into flats.

Even if there was sufficient demand for a nursery, they were concerned that the site lacked sufficient car park spaces for 27 members of staff and visiting parents.

Parking was already a problem in surrounding roads, and an added problem was that Northfield Road was the main approach road for the nearby Jewish Community Secondary School which was served by a dozen or more coaches every day.

“All the new nursery school will have is a few dropping off places, so we think that with the amount of local traffic this isn’t going to be the safest place for small children.”

The Jester public house, wrecked and abandoned after a fire in 2018 is finally demolished to make way for a new children's nursery in New Barnet

A start was made on demolishing the pub after the fire in 2018, but Barnet Council stepped in to halt the work – and that was the start of what seemed to be a never-ending saga of changes in ownership, court cases, appeals and futile planning applications.

Posted on 3 November 20254 November 2025 by Nick Jones — 6 Comments

Star Pubs say “high level of interest” in re-opening Black Horse but mounting local concern over pub’s continued closure

Such is the depth of local concern over the continued closure of the Black Horse public house that a petition has been launched to gather support for its future to be safeguarded by Barnet Council with an order to declare it an asset of community value.

Owners Star Pubs, part of Heineken UK, told the Barnet Society that they are keen to re-open the Black Horse as soon as possible.

“The Black Horse is a great pub.

“We are in the process of recruiting a new operator and we are getting a high level of interest.”

Star Pubs operates 2,400 leased and tenanted pubs across the country and the last leaseholder of the Black Horse vacated the pub in mid-September.

Within a few days well over 1,000 people have signed the petition calling for the pub to be listed as an asset of community value. It has been organised in the name of Olly Gough – www.change.org/p/save-the-black-horse-chipping-barnet-list-it-as-an-asset-of-community-value

It says the current closure is a reminder that “times are tougher than ever” for pubs and that Chipping Barnet cannot risk losing one of its most cherished pubs.

Said to have been established in 1720, the Black Horse is described as having “real social importance to the local community” and if it ceased to be a pub it could become a place for social gatherings, recreation or cultural events.

Chipping Barnet MP Dan Tomlinson, says he has already alerted Barnet

Council to the continued closure.

“Given the status of the Black horse as a locally listed building within the Wood Street Conservation Area, I sought assurances that the council would retain the building and that any future development would be sensitive to its heritage status – which the council confirmed would be the case.”

An application for ACV status would need considerable support from the community.

Chipping Barnet ward Councillor Emma Whysall, who has expressed her concern over the pub’s closure, together with the Barnet Residents Association, are urging regular customers to band together to see if they can get sufficient backing for an application.

An ACV declaration was made by the council last year after the closure of the Prince of Wales, the last pub in East Barnet village, and it was added to Barnet’s list of buildings considered to be community assets.

However, the ACV was overtaken by Stonegate Group’s sale of the pub to the Heartwood Collection which runs a chain of licensed premises with dining areas, and which re-opened the Prince of Wales in May after what was said to have been “a multi-million pound” investment.

East Barnet Residents Association raised a petition with over 3,000 signatures in support of the ACV application.

Posted on 29 October 202529 October 2025 by Nick Jones

Developers Hill Residential preparing to start construction work on estate of 115 new homes on Whalebones farmland off Wood Street, Barnet

Access for contractors’ heavy equipment has been established at the site of the former Whalebones smallholding and farmland off Wood Street, Barnet, where Hill Residential are to build 115 new homes.

Site offices have been installed ready for preparatory groundwork and the construction of a new community building to provide a replacement studio for the Barnet Guild of Artists.

Hill Residential of Waltham Abbey recently completed the purchase of the Whalebones land from the Gwyneth Cowing Will Trust following the granting of planning permission.

Demolition of the farm buildings which make up the smallholding – and an adjoining timber-framed artists’ studio bequeathed by Miss Cowing – is expected to start once the replacement studio has been completed.

The new community building will be constructed on farmland which faces on to Wellhouse Lane, opposite the bus terminus at Barnet Hospital.

Trustees for Miss Cowing, who died in 1987, and who was the granddaughter of the founder of the Barnet Press, first applied ten years ago for planning permission to build houses on the fields around the now privately-owned Whalebones House.

A protracted campaign to prevent the development ended in October last year when the Mayor of London gave the final go ahead after Barnet Council had voted narrowly in favour.

Objectors to the scheme, who included the Barnet Society and the former Chipping Barnet MP Theresa Villiers, claimed the new housing estate would destroy a significant wildlife habitat and result in the loss of the last remaining farmland between Arkley and High Barnet.

Most of the new houses will be built in the largest of the fields which is opposite the Arkley public house, and which is between the new Elmbank development and the woods surrounding Whalebones House.

In an interview for Built Environment News, The Hill Group’s founder and group chief executive, Andy Hill, confirmed that the purchase of the Whalebones farmland had been completed.

He reiterated previous undertakings that half the 12-acre site will be retained as a publicly accessible open space.

“Whalebones Park is a site of outstanding beauty, and we are proud to be entrusted with its future.

“Our plans respect the heritage of the Grade II listed Whalebones House and the character of Barnet, while delivering a sustainable new neighbourhood.”

Planning approval has been given for 115 houses and apartments in buildings ranging from two to five storeys in height. (Image, Hill Residential).

“Spacious, modern family homes” would be available for private sale and affordable homes would be provided in partnership with the affordable housing charity Sovereign Network Group.

SNG’s regional managing director Matthew Bird told BE News that its partnership in the development of Whalebones Park would demonstrate how affordable homes can be integrated into high quality sustainable development.

“Our 54 homes at Whalebones will provide much-needed opportunities for local people to access affordable rent and shared ownership in Barnet, supported by the wider benefits of new open space and community facilities.”

Posted on 17 October 202517 October 2025 by Nick Jones

Family homes rather than high-rise blocks of flats are planned for New Barnet gas works site where redundant gasholder will be demolished

After several ongoing local disputes about the height and density of new blocks of flats residents’ associations have welcomed plans to build 80 family homes on the remainder of the gas works site in Albert Road, New Barnet.

Save New Barnet campaigner John Dix said community groups were delighted that developers Berkeley Homes had reflected local opinion and are seeking planning permission for three- and four-bedroom homes – of two to three storeys in height – instead of opting for a high-rise scheme.

The four-acre site is just to the north of the much larger Victoria Quarter development where City Fairview are constructing a new complex of 420 flats in 11 blocks of up to eight storeys in height.

After years of opposition to schemes offering only high-rise flats, usually of just one- and two-bedrooms, Mr Dix said Berkeley Homes had taken heed of the campaign by community groups for the construction of more family homes.

Under the Barnet local plan, the four-acre brownfield site had been earmarked for as many as 190 homes.

Save New Barnet feared that Berkeley Homes might follow the example of City Fairview and build yet more blocks of flats.

“Berkeley Homes have seemed anxious to engage with the community, and it really is a pleasant change when a developer listens to what the community wants,” said Mr Dix.

“Our demand all along has been for more family homes rather than one-bedroom flats and well done to Berkeley Homes for having listened.”

Mr Dix acknowledged that there were some restraints on the site which might add to the sale price of the new houses – the site needed to be decontaminated and there will continue to be some underground pipework.

When asked by the Barnet Society at a consultation evening as to whether the scheme would include any affordable housing, architects JTP said this was still under consideration.

Berkeley Homes and other developers have been in discussions with the Greater London Authority over possible changes to the affordable housing targets for London – one proposal under discussion is reducing the requirement from 35 to perhaps 20 to 25 per cent in order to speed house construction.

Family homes planned for remainder of New Barnet gas works site where redundant gasholder os to be demolished

Perhaps the biggest change to the area will be the demolition of the 90-year-old cast iron framework of the New Barnet gasometer – a local landmark as seen from the Victoria Recreation Ground.

Built in 1934, with an original capacity of 2,000,000 cubic feet of gas, the gas holder was decommissioned in 2009, purged of gas and collapsed to its lowest level.

Visible from streets all around New Barnet, the massive structure divides opinion – some think it should have been pulled down years ago while others admire its elegance and welcome its presence as a familiar sight on the local skyline.

The 38-metre-high frame of what was originally known as a column guided gasholder has been described by National Grid Property Holdings as having “no particular historic or architectural merit” and “little, if any, heritage value.”

Consultation on Berkeley Homes’ master plan for the Albert Road site closes at the end of October when an application will be made to Barnet Council for planning permission.

Demolition of the gasholder is likely to take place during 2026 along with other remedial work on the site. The scheme is due for completion in 2031.

Posted on 8 October 20258 October 2025 by Nick Jones — 3 Comments

Full English breakfasts are on the march up the Great North Road as Hole in the Wall Cafe plans to transfer to Dory’s Cafe in High Barnet

Kevin Callaghan, proprietor of the Hole in the Wall Cafe – said to be Barnet’s oldest cafe – is temporarily transferring his business to the premises of the former Dory’s Cafe, another local institution, which ceased trading in the summer.

The Hole in the Wall, established in 1935 and hidden behind hoardings on the Great North Road, is to be demolished along with other buildings on the Meadow Works industrial estate at Pricklers Hill.

The closure of Dory’s Cafe in August was the end of an era.

Opened in 1954, it had been run by three generations of the same family and its closure followed the retirement of its proprietors Guiliano Cardosi and Angela Casali.

Mr Callaghan has secured a lease on the former Dory’s Cafe – to be renamed Corner Cafe – and he will transfer the business on a date to be announced once all the legalities are complete.

The existing Meadow Works complex of industrial and commercial premises is to be replaced with a new self-storage depot which will include new premises for the Hole in the Wall Cafe along with co-working spaces.

Mr Callaghan and his staff have earned a well-deserved reputation for their full English breakfasts and lunch menu.

Over the decades the Hole in the Wall, where Mr Callaghan first started working 20 years ago, has become a well-used pit stop for lorry drivers and motorists heading out of London.

The closure of Dory’s Cafe prompted tributes across social media and a flood of memories of full English breakfasts, tasty snacks and friendly welcome – a reputation to be proud of.

Mr Callaghan is delighted that the Hole in the Wall will have a new home once the Meadow Works industrial estate gets a new lease of life.

Proprietor of Barnet's oldest cafe The Hole in the Wall is moving up the Great North Road to former Dory's Cafe in High Barnet while new premises are built.

Developers Compound Real Estate say they are awaiting planning permission but do have approval in principle for a new state-of-the-art self-storage facility and co-working spaces, fronting on to the Great North Road, which will be available to support local small businesses and entrepreneurs.

A cluster of ageing and dilapidated light industrial buildings will be demolished to make way for the new development.

One of the last to move out is a furniture maker which has been based at Meadow Works for the last nine years.

Proprietor Sebastian said that he was disappointed to be leaving as it had been difficult to find new premises and rents were high.

“We have managed to find another workshop in Waltham Abbey but that just shows how few affordable workspaces there are around Barnet. It’s not easy for small businesses in woodworking and carpentry.”

Posted on 7 October 20258 October 2025 by Nick Jones

Sad farewells with house building to start soon on farmland at Whalebones, off Wood Street, the last countryside between Arkley and High Barnet

Demolition and clearance of the Whalebones smallholding and fields off Wood Street, High Barnet, has moved a step closer with developers having completed the purchase of the site for the construction of an estate of 115 new homes.

Housebuilders Hill Residential of Waltham Abbey and the Gwyneth Cowing Will Trust were jointly granted planning permission last year to develop farmland which adjoins Whalebones House, former home of the Cowing family.

With ownership having been transferred from the Cowing trustees, the handover has required the relocation of two long-standing tenants of Whalebones – the Barnet Guild of Artists and the Barnet and District Beekeepers’ Association.

A replacement studio for the artists’ guild is to be provided in a new community building to be constructed in Wellhouse Lane but the beekeepers’ association, which has been based at Whalebones for the last 60 years, has moved to a temporary site at a farm in Arkley.

Trustees for the late Miss Gwyneth Cowing, granddaughter of the founder of the Barnet Press, who died in 1987, first applied ten years ago for planning permission to build houses on fields at Whalebones,

A protracted campaign to save a significant wildlife habitat and the last remaining farmland between Arkley and High Barnet ended in October last year when the Mayor of London gave the final go ahead after Barnet Council had voted narrowly in favour of the scheme.

Most of the new houses – see image above from the Hill Group – will be built in the largest of the fields which is opposite the Arkley public house, and which is between the new Elmbank development and the woods around the now privately owned Whalebones House.

In an interview for Built Environment News, The Hill Group’s founder and group chief executive, Andy Hill, confirmed that the purchase of the Whalebones farmland had been completed.

He reiterated previous undertakings that half the site will be retained as “publicly accessible open space”.

“Whalebones Park is a site of outstanding beauty, and we are proud to be entrusted with its future.

“Our plans respect the heritage of the Grade II listed Whalebones House and the character of Barnet, while delivering a sustainable new neighbourhood.”

Space will be provided close to Well Cottage for a small holding for an agricultural tenant. The former tenant farmer at Whalebones, Peter Mason, who had been there since the 1960s and who had once reared cattle and horses at Whalebones, died last year.

Planning approval has been given for 115 houses and apartments in buildings ranging from two to five storeys in height.

“Spacious, modern family homes” would be available for private sale and affordable homes would be provided in partnership with the affordable housing charity Sovereign Network Group.

SNG’s regional managing director Matthew Bird told BE News that its partnership in the development of Whalebones Park would demonstrate how affordable homes can be integrated into high quality sustainable development.

Alongside the purchase of the farmland by The Hill Group, the former stable block has also changed hands and has been acquired by the owners of Whalebones House.

In recent days there have been some emotional farewells because over the decades the stable block, with its much-loved ornate and welcoming interior, had been home not only for the beekeepers but also for groups of Barnet Girl Guides and Brownies.

Miss Cowing’s generosity in providing a meeting place for local organisations – and paying for the construction of the timber-framed artists’ studio – left a legacy of philanthropy which the trustees of the estate said they had been anxious to preserve and respect.

Unlike the Guild of Artists which is signing a lease for use of a new community building in Wellhouse Lane, the beekeepers’ association decided it was not in a position to secure charitable status and take on added responsibilities.

Instead, the beekeepers have found temporary storage place for their equipment at an apiary on a farm in Arkley but will miss the use of the stable block for meetings, lectures, training courses, honey extraction and storage.

Moving out was a sad moment for long serving members of the association who gathered for a final group photo in a room which, for them, held so many memories – from left to right, president Geoffrye Hood, apiary manager Wilf Wood, association secretary Ann Songhurst, and Shri Kam.

The association, which currently has 107 members, has apiaries at various sites around High Barnet including Cat Hill, Arkley, and also Mill Hill.

Four hives of bees kept at Whalebones were moved from the site earlier this year.

One of the greatest disappointments for the association will be the loss of a purpose-built facility for honey extraction which was fitted out with the latest equipment with help of a grant from the Millennium Commission which distributed funds to mark the turn of the millennium.

Geoffrey Hood said their facilities had been of great importance in the association’s education programme and every year since 2013 he had helped to train ten to 15 newcomers to beekeeping.

“We tend to start new beekeepers off with a hive at one of our apiaries and then they usually find their own sites.”

Developers Hill Residential completed purchase of farmland at Whalebones off Wood Street, High Barnet, site of 115 new homes

The Barnet and District Beekeepers’ Association had its very own postcode. Wilf Wood said a former president Rodger Hedgecoe arranged with the Post Office that letters should be addressed to EN5 4BZ.

Posted on 23 September 202524 September 2025 by Nick Jones

Clearing out charred remains piled up inside is next step in restoring historic Hadley Green mansion gutted by fire last May

Work is about to begin removing charred debris from inside a fire-ravaged Georgian house on Hadley Green after completion of a delicate operation to construct a framework of scaffolding and supports to stabilise the outer walls.

A massive fire over the May bank holiday gutted Hollybush House leaving only the shell of the Grade II listed building and its chimney stacks.

As the outer structure was considered so unsafe, access to the interior of the house – even by fire investigators – has had to wait until the scaffolding was finished.

Upper brickwork, especially at the rear of the building was left in such a fragile state there was a fear of outer walls collapsing.

Once the charred remains have been removed it will be possible to make a full assessment of the state of the building and contractors will be able to secure the brickwork and make a start on repairs and restoration.

The owners of Hollybush House, which was built in around 1790, say they are determined to ensure full restoration as they recognise its importance as part of the historic heritage of Monken Hadley.

Myshkin Clarke Hall, lead architect for the project, told the Barnet Society the owners of the house were committed to putting it back as it was.

Fire investigators would enter the building together with the clear-out crew.

He thought it would take two or three months to remove all the debris which would give them a chance to see how bad the damage was and then they could start repairing the brickwork.

An intricate web of scaffolding and internal supports had been necessary to secure the walls. The aim was to retain the original façade.

Brickwork on the front façade had survived quite well but was precarious at the rear and around the chimney stacks as the mortar had been damaged in the fire. Some of the bricks were cracked and would need to be removed and replaced.

Long term it might take two to two and half years to build a new roof, complete the reconstruction and finish off all the interior installations.

Work about to begin removing charred debris piled high inside Georgian house on Hadley Green gutted in fire last May.

Ten fire engines and 70 firefighters tackled the blaze which broke out at around 1am on May bank holiday.

Hollybush House, which it is thought went for an estimated £4.5 million when last sold in 2020, was in the process of being renovated and refurbished. A new roof had only recently been completed together with new windows.

Posted on 13 September 2025 by Robin Bishop — 6 Comments

Last chance to have your say on Barnet Heights

… or High Barnet Place, as the development proposed next to High Barnet Station is officially called (see above). But Barnet Heights would be a more accurate description of 283 flats over the whole of the present car park in blocks of 5 to 11 storeys high.

Whichever, it’s the most serious threat to Chipping Barnet’s character and functioning in decades. And Friday 19 September is the deadline for public comments on the planning application.

The Barnet Society strongly opposes the proposals, and urges you to do so too.

Our key reasons for objecting strongly to the current planning application are because:

It breaches many policies in Barnet’s recently-adopted Local Plan.
It would create homes of unacceptably poor safety and quality in terms of layout, detailed design and amenity.
It would be no more accessible – and probably less safe – than the present site.
Contrary to the developers’ claims, it would be unsustainable by many environmental standards.
It would irreparably harm the identity of the neighbourhood, nearby and from afar.
No compensating benefits of significance are offered in terms of transport connectivity or new/improved facilities to the existing community.

We’re currently finalising a full justification of our objections. A draft summary of them can be found here.

The Society would welcome a development that combined a genuine improvement to the public realm and public transport connectivity alongside well-designed homes at a sympathetic scale of development. But this application is not that.

As I write, over 300 objections have been posted on the Council’s planning portal – impressive, but we need more.

In March Dan Tomlinson MP’s position was neutral, but his current stance has not yet been made known. Former Chipping Barnet MP Theresa Villiers has submitted an objection.

Curiously, of the 26 supporters of the scheme, hardly any actually live in Chipping Barnet.

How you can comment

Have your say one of these ways:

on the Council’s planning portal (ref. no. 25/2671/FUL) via the Comments tab;
email comments direct to planning.consultation@barnet.gov.uk (cc sam.gerstein@barnet.gov.uk); or
post your comments to the Planning Officer: Sam Gerstein, Planning and Building Control, Barnet Council , 2 Bristol Avenue, Colindale, NW9 4EW.

In the cases of 2 & 3, be sure to include:

the application ref. no. (25/2671/FUL) clearly at the top
the site address (High Barnet Underground Station, Station Approach, Barnet EN5 5RP) and
your name, address and postcode.

Sending a copy of your comments to our MP dan.tomlinson.mp@parliament.uk and to your local Councillors will increase the effectiveness of your objection.

Posted on 11 September 202511 September 2025 by Nick Jones — 7 Comments

Barnet Hospital said to be in “constructive discussions” with Barnet Council over car parking pressure on nearby roads

Community organisations have welcomed assurances that Barnet Hospital will try to reduce the pressure which car parking by hospital staff, patients and visitors is placing on surrounding residential roads.

Plans for a further expansion of the ever-widening controlled parking zones around the hospital are meeting a barrage of criticism from householders who are forced to pay for parking permits.

Barnet Council officials are understood to have suggested to the Royal Free Hospital Trust that the management at Barnet should look for ways to alleviate the problem.

Nearby residents could not be expected to acquiesce as more and more local streets become a parking lot for the hospital, necessitating the introduction of an ever-expanding CPZ.

Residents’ associations understand that the trust will now examine what more can be done to increase the capacity of the hospital’s own car parks off Wellhouse Lane – by making better use of the space available – and by taking over vacant sites.

Currently Barnet Hospital has insufficient parking space for its own staff and a request for yet another increase in the undisclosed number of on-street parking permits – which are already issued for staff use – has apparently been refused.

News of what are said to be “constructive discussions” between the council and the hospital follow in the wake of further expansion of Barnet Hospital CPZ.

This has recently been extended – despite strong local resistance – to take in seven roads around Ryecroft Crescent, on the Arkley side of Quinta Drive.

Almost 80 per cent of the residents who replied to a consultation were against the introduction of a CPZ extension, but the council has gone ahead with a widening of the zone on what officials say is “an experimental basis”.

There was further uproar last month when the council held consultations on the proposed Underhill South CPZ – a new CPZ which would introduce restrictions and permits in 29 roads, including several cul-de-sacs, which are on either side of Mays Lane, extending from the junction with Manor Road all the way westwards to the junction with Shelford Road.

A council survey was said to have shown that there were “extremely high levels of parking stress” in most of the roads surrounding Mays Lane caused by the extra demand for spaces from hospital staff, patients and visitors.

But residents say a CPZ over such a wide area – extending to the Dollis Valley riverside walk – is completely unnecessary and would become extremely expensive for residents.

The Quinta Green Residents Association and the Underhill Residents Association – which are both claiming there is overwhelming opposition to a new CPZ – said they had been urging strategic solutions to the problems caused by the hospital.

Community groups welcome assurances that Barnet Hospital will take steps to try alleviate car parking pressure on surrounding streets.

They believed the hospital’s existing car parks could be reconfigured to take more vehicles and that vacant land around the hospital – such as the site above at the Wellhouse Lane-Wood Street junction – should be brought into use.

The two associations say one option might be for the hospital to reach agreements with local organisations including schools and clubs to see whether it was possible to rent additional parking spaces.

Posted on 9 September 202512 September 2025 by Nick Jones

Campaign underway to secure long-term future for highly successful on-site school farm at Totteridge Academy

A bumper summer crop of pumpkins, tomatoes, cucumbers and other produce is another illustration of the continuing success of GROW, the school and community farm which has been created on a six-acre field next to The Totteridge Academy in Barnet Lane.

Visitors were welcomed at an open day by the farm’s managing director Lucy Hollis (above, far right) who is encouraging local residents to give their opinions on whether GROW should be granted a ten-year lease of the land.

There was nothing but praise for the way this educational charity has encouraged pupils at The Totteridge Academy to get involved in the planting and growing of vegetables, fruit and flowers.

A fascinating look back at the inspiration behind the development of an innovative school farm – and GROW’s success over the last six years – has been prepared by Anna Robins (see her text below).

Some of the produce from the farm goes straight to the school kitchen for seasonal meals for pupils and surplus is sold at a farm shop at the school entrance.

GROW’s contribution to the community has expanded since it opened in 2019 with the introduction of raised-bed gardens for use by families who have no outdoor space and through the organisation of regular gardening clubs for children on Saturdays and in school holidays.

GROW’s aim is to gain security of tenure of its site with a ten-year lease and ensure community support for any future planning applications.

The open day marked the start of a month-long consultation to test public support for the farm and to gain approval for a lease agreement with United Learning Trust (on behalf of Totteridge Academy) and the Department of Education.

For Rob and Yvonne Verrill – above with Lucy Hollis – the chance to be shown around the farm brought back family memories.

“Our son went to The Totteridge Academy, and it is great to see how the school is now offering local children the chance to learn how to cultivate and grow food.

“It is so beneficial to get children involved out-of-doors activities. It is great for their self-esteem.”

Another first-time visitor Nick Gagen was shown the raised beds where families without gardens can grow produce.

“I live in Manor Road and have walked past the farm lots of times but never been inside. It’s great to see what GROW does for the school and local community.

“I grew up in the Cambridge Fens, so I know how important is to understand all about nature and plants.

“My family used to say that when children who were evacuated from London during the last war arrived to stay, they had no idea that food was grown out in fields. They thought it all came in tins and boxes.”

For farm manager Chis Haigh the tomato crop has exceeded expectations with lots of varieties doing well – heritage tomatoes, Roma, gourmand and gardener’s delight.

He says that securing a long lease on their field – which was previously unused by the school – would assist in planning future cultivation and make it worthwhile to plant more fruit trees such as apple, pear, quince, plum and mulberry.

GROW has already planted over 60 fruit trees and around 500 hedge-row trees around the perimeter of the farm.

In her history about the development of GROW, Anna Robins (above) – chair of the Byng Road Allotment Committee – explains that this initiative was part of a recovery plan for The Totteridge Academy after several troubled years and a falling school roll.

In 2016, Chris Fairbairn was appointed the new head teacher by United Learning Trust, which had taken over the management of the school, and he set about a five-plan to make Totteridge the “most improved school in London”.

Anna – who said Mr Fairbairn knocked his promise “out of the park within two years” – takes up GROW’s story:

“While Mr Fairbairn and his team steadied the ship and set it on a course to success, the school was also moving up the social ladder. The school’s hall was featured in a 2018 John Lewis advertisement and Mr Fairbairn’s invited his university friends to deliver assemblies and classes – radio and television presenter Rick Edwards, historian Dan Jones, and television presenter George Lamb.

“According to George Lamb’s interview with the Harmony Project, he was having his own crisis that mirrored The Totteridge Academy. While he achieved success as a radio and television presenter, he ‘felt empty’ and his achievements were ‘pointless and did not know what to do with himself’ – a fact echoed by his dad: ‘a game show host […] Not a very serious guy in the scheme of things’.

“Affected by the 2011 riots, George Lamb threw himself into volunteer and community work focussing on disenfranchised and disengaged people. In 2016, like The Totteridge Academy, in times of turmoil, George Lamb also turned to Mr Fairbairn. Over the next few years, George Lamb became a regular visitor at Totteridge because he “liked the energy that his friend brought to the school”.

“He was looking ahead to the next generation, realising that raising young people’s environmental IQ was important as ‘there will be no human rights, if there is no planet’. On his next visit to TTA, George Lamb spotted a derelict six-acre field next to the school’s old car park that was supposed to be redeveloped into football pitches. Due to a lack of funding and declining pupil numbers, this was never actualised, and so these six acres were dedicated to GROW.

“In December 2019, GROW submitted a planning application to change the use of these six-acres from school playing field to a City Farm with educational farming. Officially launched in 2019 by George Lamb, the school grounds started their transformation into a community farm. In June 2021 it featured in the Evening Standard, on BBC’s Gardeners World in October 2021, and Children in Need in 2024.

WHAT DOES GROW DO?

“By far the main beneficiary of GROW is the Academy itself. The initiative’s biggest achievement is connecting the school kitchen to GROW’s food to create seasonal dishes for pupils and staff. Pupils can see the journey of their food from field to fork. Over the past six years, GROW has provided food for over 100,000 school lunch plates for the Totteridge Academy community.

“Also, GROW’s aim is to integrate itself with the entire school curriculum and to apply the subject knowledge on the farm. While some subjects are easily applied to the GROW farm, like science and the recently revived Food Technology, GROW’s challenge is to support all subjects across the curriculum so all pupils can access and learn from GROW. Other subjects that have used the GROW farm are photography, English, and geography – most of which were re-introduced to the Academy’s curriculum due to its academic success.

BENEFITS FOR LOCAL COMMUNITY

“The local community can access GROW: by a community stall in the academy’s car park, where fresh food is affordable and accessible for all ( Wednesday 3pm-6pm. from November 3pm-5pm); Grow-Cook-Share which provides local families with no outdoor space with a raised bed to grow fruit and vegetables; and BUNCH an AQA qualification in floristry for people aged between 13-16 years old.

“GROW also provides after-school programmes and holiday clubs for free school meal recipients.

“In the last few years GROW has spread its initiative across the London Borough of Barnet. They are working with Underhill School & Children’s Centre and Whitings Hill Primary School by supporting them to set up their own farms to help their communities access fresh food and enhance their wellbeing through farming.

“Grahame Park now has its own community garden welcoming local residents to grow food, learn new skills, and connect with their neighbours. It is a thriving hub with over 550 visitors joining the community garden.

“Together with Live Unlimited, GROW runs two additional clubs on Saturdays. Live Unlimited was set up in 2018 for children who are or have been Looked After by the London Borough of Barnet. Its aim is to help children gain life skills, build relationships and networks, reduce isolation and providing them with the best opportunities possible. Live Unlimited ensures that all care-experienced children and young people reach their potential and lead happy and fulfilling lives.

VOLUNTEERING OPPORTUNITIES

“Residents of London Borough of Barnet can also access GROW by volunteering to help grow food and flowers, learn how to farm their own food as well as help with their mental health. It is available to anyone over the age of 16 years old and takes place on Wednesday morning from 10.00am – 4.00pm. Wellies, waterproofs, gloves, and tools are also available for volunteers to use. If that is not enticing enough GROW also provides a vegan lunch made from GROW farm produce and offers a 20% discount at their community stall.

“Adults who need additional support are not forgotten either. They are invited to volunteer at GROW Friday from 10.00am to 1.00pm. Volunteers will work in a group of no more than five adults and will get involved in a range of activities that best suit their individual needs and interests.

“Since January 2025, GROW has sown over 25,000 seeds – 1,200 pumpkins, 5,000 leeks and 450 tomatoes and are on target to sow a total of 64,500 seeds by the end of August. It has sold a half a tonne of food to the community, had 153 people participate in their various programmes and had another 48 volunteers join GROW.”

For further information, please visit their website: https://www.wearegrow.org/. Or if you have any questions or would like to volunteer at GROW please contact: hello@wearegrow.org

Posted on 7 September 20257 September 2025 by Nick Jones — 20 Comments

Transport for London bans flats protest rally outside High Barnet station – but across the road residents launch their “New Battle of Barnet”

A mass protest against plans for five high-rise blocks of flats on the car park at High Barnet tube station attracted over 250 residents who were greeted with toots of support from the horns of passing motorists.

London Transport moved swiftly to warn of prosecutions if protestors gathered around the station entrance, so the rally was switched to the other side of Barnet Hill.

Fifteen posters warning of the consequences of any “unauthorised protests or gathering or loitering” had been fixed to walls and fences all around the lower entrance.

A posse of four members of London Underground staff stood at the station forecourt and were on hand in case of any breach of Transport for London byelaws.

Despite the ban on meeting in the area around the station’s lower entrance, the groups organising the protest – Barnet Society, Barnet Residents Association and Hands Off high Barnet – were determined to show the strength of opposition to a redevelopment they argue is the “wrong scheme, in the wrong place”.

As supporters were marshalled back up the slope of the station entrance to cross the road to the grassy bank on the opposite side of Barnet Hill, there were muttered protests at what was seen as TfL’s high-handed approach in banning a rally on their land.

In particular, the wording of the notices – suggesting their presence might lead to prosecutions – led some residents to complain that TfL seemed to be turning High Barnet into a police state where free speech and protest were being suppressed.

While remaining friendly and approachable, the four London Underground staff on duty outside the station entrance were a clear indication that TfL meant business – the rally had apparently been banned on grounds of health and safety.

As the crowd of protestors continued to grow in size – approaching 250 people or more on some estimates – the organisers said they were delighted by the turn out.

Four thousand leaflets had been distributed calling for support, reminding residents they had until Friday 19 September to register their objections with Barnet Council.

Gordon Massey, who analysed the scheme on behalf of Barnet Residents Association, told the crowd they had to recognise that TfL – through its subsidiary Places for London – was determined to build as many homes as possible on spare land at London Underground stations.

“283 flats on this site are far too many and the design of them is absolutely dreadful. Just listen to the noise from the road and think what it will be like living there.”

He praised the joint effort there had been with the Barnet Society whose planning and environment spokesman Robin Bishop said the society’s team approach would allow them to present Barnet Council with “a substantial submission” detailing the faults in the scheme.

As the rally continued, hand-made posters held up by the grandchildren of Jane Ouseley (far left) amused passing motorists who tooted their horns in support of the message: “No tower blocks in High Barnet”.

Summing up the defiance of the crowd was a slogan on one of the posters: “The new Battle of Barnet”.

Another poster on the roadside at the entrance to the station left passers-by in no doubt about what the protest was all about.

Ken Rowland, chair of the residents’ association, said the size of the crowd showed why residents felt so strongly about an “appalling and monstrous” development.

“We need to stop this…the children living in homes in these blocks will not be able to open the windows…they will be overlooking an electricity sub station and railway tracks, and it is not the appropriate place for a development of this size.”

Kim Ambridge, a founder member of Hands-Off High Barnet which fought successfully against a 2019 plan – later withdrawn – for high-rise flats, deplored the loss of the station car park.

Her concern was reinforced by Barnet Vale Councillor David Longstaff who thought that by building over a well-lit car park, TfL was failing to acknowledge the fears of women arriving at the High Barnet station late at night.

At the end of the rally the crowd showed their contempt for TfL’s ban on the protest outside the tube station by marching up the High Street to the parish church of St John the Baptist.

Mass protest rally against tower blocks of flats at High Barnet tube station goes ahead despite Transport for London ban on gatherings outside the station entrance

A final photo-opportunity underlined another message of from the rally – that the proposed 11-storey block of flats at the station would break the historic skyline of High Barnet and compete with the commanding presence of the church tower.

Posted on 29 August 202529 August 2025 by Nick Jones

Work to start soon on a new studio for Barnet Guild of Artists – a continuing legacy of Whalebones benefactor Gwyneth Cowing

Members of Barnet Guild of Artists are preparing for their 74^th annual show in October – in what might become their final year in their unique and much-loved art studio.

Tucked away in the woods at Whalebones, off Wood Street, the timber framed studio was built by the late Miss Gwyneth Cowing who left it for the artists’ use.

The guild have been rebuilding their membership after a difficult few years following the cancellation of activities during the covid pandemic and uncertainty surrounding plans for the redevelopment of much of the Whalebones estate.

Helen Leake, the guild’s membership secretary – see above – says they will be very sorry to leave Miss Cowing’s original studio which holds so many happy memories for generations of local artists.

If all goes to plan the guild is due to move into a replacement studio towards the end of 2026 on a site in Wellhouse Lane, next to Well Cottage and directly opposite the bus terminus outside Barnet Hospital.

New premises for the artists are to be built by Hill Residential, and the Gwyneth Cowing Will Trust, which were granted planning permission last year to build 114 new houses on fields adjoining Whalebones House.

A lease on the proposed new building is about to be signed by the guild which has acquired charitable status given its enhanced responsibilities.

By moving into a new premises, with a much bigger art studio, full disabled access and modern facilities, the guild will have the opportunity to widen their appeal and work with other arts groups.

“We do want to engage much more with the wider community and our new premises will give us the chance to work with other organisations and arrange community sessions for local artists,” said Helen Leake.

The guild now has a membership of 128 artists and is appealing for a treasurer and new trustees to help with the administration.

Members are currently preparing for their annual exhibition to be staged again at the Wesley Hall during the last week of October.

Seen at work in the well-lit Whalebones studio – under the watchful eye of Gwyneth Cowing’s portrait on the wall – are from left to right, Helen Leake. Carole Wilson and Victoria Vickers.

Recent works completed by guild members are about to go on display at the Open Door Cafe at Christ Church in St Albans Road.

An ambitious project completed by guild members under the leadership of Toni Smith was the painting of a large mural on an external wall of Brunswick Park Primary and Nursey School in Osidge Lane.

The mural is of a tree and owls and the school’s colours.

One member who helped with the project was Mark Wiltshire, above.

Such was the size of the mural – measuring four metres by five metre – that scaffolding has to be erected to provide access.

For more information on the guild’s activities see www.barnetguildofartists.com

Posted on 21 August 20252 September 2025 by Robin Bishop — 6 Comments

Landing on Barnet Hill soon – unless the Council can be persuaded to refuse it

This development would permanently alter the identity of Chipping Barnet. If approved by the Planning Committee, it would set an extremely damaging precedent for the town centre and neighbouring areas. We have until Friday 19 September to comment on it – see how to do so at the end of this post.

The planning application

Places for London (PfL, a partnership between Transport for London & Barratt London) want to build 283 flats over the whole of the present car park in blocks of 5 to 11 storeys high. You can see the full application at https://publicaccess.barnet.gov.uk/online-applications/ (reference no. 25/2671/FUL).

At a public meeting on 20 March Dan Tomlinson MP was neutral about the scheme, but asked PfL to deliver more benefits for the community. Examples suggested were moving the northbound bus stop closer to Station Approach and providing bus access to the station forecourt. Frustratingly, the application offers only some benches and better lighting to the pedestrian ramp and a couple of extra disabled car bays.

Mr Tomlinson has told the Society that he is reviewing the application and will reassess his position.

The Barnet Society’s response

The Barnet Society strongly objects to the application.

We do so with regret because we respect Barnet’s need for new homes and support good design. We also accept the principle of building at transport hubs, and would welcome improvements to this prominent site.

But the designs submitted are not appropriate for this location. They amount to massive overdevelopment, to the great detriment of the character of Chipping Barnet and with almost no compensating benefits to the local community. Our main objections are summarised below.

An alien imposition

The designs are entirely out of scale and character with our green and historic neighbourhood.

At the top and bottom of Barnet Hill, few buildings exceed three storeys, but those proposed would rise over three times as high. They would totally dominate the existing townscape and greenery that make High Barnet, Underhill and Barnet Vale special. They would break the historic skyline from several viewpoints.

Two of the published visualisations are particularly misleading. View 2 (from Underhill) shows only three of the five blocks. Our own version (above) shows a truer picture.

View 14 (from Pricklers Hill) hides St John the Baptist’s church, which currently dominates the skyline, behind a tree. Below, our version demonstrates how the development would compete with – and detract from – the traditional preeminence of the church.

We do not object to gentle densification of our neighbourhood, but this would be a brutal and irreversible step-change.

It would also be a clear breach of Barnet Council’s own recently-adopted Local Plan, which expressly rules out buildings over 7 storeys at High Barnet Station.

The developers’ claim that ‘the tallest building serves [as] a welcoming and attractive gateway from the Station’ is a sublime example of marketing oversell. The trees lining both sides of Barnet Hill already provide a distinctive and beautiful southern ‘gateway’ to our town. The Station needs no such a grandiose landmark: its reticence is part of its charm.

An unsustainable neighbourhood

The applicants and their designers describe their proposals as an ‘exciting well-connected and highly sustainable residential neighbourhood’ (Planning Statement 2.6). On the contrary, it is disconnected and unsustainable at almost every level.

The constraints of the A1000, Northern Line, TfL structures, unstable geology and sloping topography force the applicants to propose a height and density that would be expensive to build, service and maintain for decades to come.

Squeezed between the busy, noisy and polluted road and railway, the new homes could not economically provide healthy environments internally or externally. The promised Passivhaus standards require levels of construction skill and expenditure that we doubt would be attainable.

Flat layouts are often poor. Some are only single-aspect and, facing north-east, would have very poor sunlight and natural ventilation. A high proportion face south-west with potential to over-heat in summer. Expensive acoustic mitigation and mechanical ventilation (costly to run) would be necessary.

Only 35% of the total number of flats would be ‘affordable’. No guarantees are provided to restrict buy-to-let or overseas investors. At least some of the flats would probably become over-occupied, resulting in a population of nearly 1,000 with no gardens and minimal amenity space.

It would have a high proportion of children but only token outdoor play space. Outdoor play and social space for older children, young adults and the elderly would be negligible. Family stress would increase.

A truly sustainable scheme would place public health, community energy and low waste at its heart. It would be complemented on-site by a rich range of habitats and community gardening, and supported by excellent public transport connections and cycleways. None of these are on offer. Biodiversity net gain could only be achieved by substantial off-site provision. Residents would lack most of the physical, social and economic infrastructure necessary for a settled, inclusive and intergenerational neighbourhood.

An unsafe environment

We are unconvinced that there would be a net improvement in safety. Removal of all general car parking spaces would increase risks to women and other travellers with concerns for their personal safety, especially in late evening and early morning.

Although the ‘woodland walk’ would get an upgrade, the new recessed benches are likely to encourage misuse. The long and contorted strip between the new flats and the tube tracks would invite anti-social behaviour. With its many dark recesses and corners, the project would rely heavily on CCTV cameras and external lighting to meet Secure by Design standards.

Lack of community benefits

Connectivity between tube, buses, taxis and private vehicles would remain poor. Direct bus access to the Station forecourt is ruled out. TfL make no commitment to moving the northbound bus stop closer, or to a cycle lane on Barnet Hill. Pedestrian and wheelchair accessibility would be only slightly improved. Congestion would worsen.

New demand for local surgeries, nurseries and schools would be significant, with no certainty of the developer’s contribution to meeting it.

Loss of car parking

We are unconvinced by the rationale for removing the car park. The only spaces left would be a few disabled bays and (ironically) those for TfL staff. Yet park-and-ride is an option highly valued by residents on the fringes of Barnet and Hertfordshire and boosts tube use. Without improved public transport and connectivity to the Station consequences would be severe, both for travellers and for residents near the Station.

The inconvenience and distress caused by CPZs has lately been illustrated at Underhill South. Similar protests can be expected from residents in the proposed Zones E (Barnet Lane & Sherrards Way) and F (Meadway, Kingsmead, Potters Lane, Prospect Road, Leicester Road & King Edward Road) as well as others affected in Barnet Vale and parents of pupils at St Catherine’s RC Primary School, many of whom have to drive considerable distances due to its wide catchment area.

Postwar mistakes repeated

The mistakes of postwar estate planning – not least in the nearby Dollis Valley Estate – have been forgotten. If approved, in a few years’ time future Barnet residents, politicians and planners will wonder how this development was allowed to happen.

Above: proposed view from King George’s Fields

How you can comment

Have your say one of these ways:

on the Council’s planning portal (ref. no. 25/2671/FUL) via the Comments tab;
email comments direct to planning.consultation@barnet.gov.uk;
post your comments to the Planning Officer: Sam Gerstein, Planning and Building Control, Barnet Council , 2 Bristol Avenue, Colindale, NW9 4EW.

In the cases of 2 & 3, be sure to include the application reference no. (25/2671/FUL) clearly at the top plus your name, address and postcode.

Increase the effectiveness of your objection by sending a copy of your comments to our MP dan.tomlinson.mp@parliament.uk and to your local Councillors.

Posted on 6 August 20256 August 2025 by Nick Jones — 1 Comment

Work well underway on Victoria Quarter flats at New Barnet…but uncertainty over much-used footpath and tunnel

A long-established footpath under the main railway line at New Barnet faces an uncertain future after being deemed unsafe during redevelopment of the former gas works site off Victoria Road.

Victoria Quarter – a massive new complex of 420 flats in eleven blocks of up to eight storeys in height – is rapidly taking shape after finally securing planning approval last year.

Save New Barnet mounted a sustained campaign to try to ensure improvements and safeguards during lengthy appeals and legal challenges over a succession of applications to develop the vacant site which lies between the main line and Victoria Park recreation ground and leisure centre.

Developers Citystyle Fairview promised that as part of the scheme it would install a well-lit new footpath to a tunnel which provides a right way connecting Victoria Park and its surrounding roads with streets on the other side of the main line around Cromer Road and Tudor Park.

But there is uncertainty now because Network Rail has detected structural faults in the railway embankment and tunnel which forced the closure of the footpath last year soon after construction work started.

East Barnet councillor Simon Radford (above) has taken up complaints made by residents and the Save New Barnet campaign about the continued closure of the existing overhead walkway leading to the tunnel, and the resulting loss of a much-used public right of way.

“Unfortunately, there is no indication yet as to what work is needed to stabilise the embankment and tunnel or how much it will cost,” said Councillor Radford.

“The footpath should have re-opened in July. We hope it might be sorted out by the end of the year, but who knows now.”

At his request there will be regular joint meetings between Network Rail, Fairview and Barnet Council and he has promised to keep the community informed.

“The trouble will probably be sorting out who should pay for any remedial work that is needed to the tunnel.

“Clearly the developers have a responsibility as they promised a new footpath, but it is complicated now Network Rail and Barnet Council are involved.”

The uncertainty has been criticised by John Dix of the Save New Barnet campaign who agreed with Councillor Radford that the re-opening of the footpath might take “significantly longer” than the target date of November.

“Apparently the embankment is already subject to cracking and instability at track level, and this has necessitated a redesign of the works.

“Sadly, this is something we specifically warned the council about before they granted permission to close the public right of way, but when do they ever listen to residents.”

The frontage to the Victoria Quarter redevelopment off Albert Road has been transformed by the completion of the new Park Quarter flats which front on to Victoria Road. Many are now fully occupied.

A start has already been made to marketing homes in the larger Victoria Quarter complex – as seen in the image above from the housing association Sovereign Network Group which is promoting the sale of some of the flats on a shared ownership basis.

SNG, which started promotion in June of the sale of a group of 22 one-, two- and three-bedroom flats in an area to be known as Quartoria, says that priority for the shared-ownership homes will be given to people who live or work in Barnet.

Its website says that based on a 25 per cent shared ownership one-bedroom apartments will be available from £91,250; two-bedroom from £113,750; and three-bedroom from £142,500.

There will be one parking space per apartment, either off-street or under croft parking.

There has been a succession of applications to redevelop the cleared site of the former New Barnet gas works in a long-running saga dating back over 16 years.

Residents and amenity group mounted fierce opposition fearing developers would cram in too many high-rise blocks.

It started when ASDA dropped their 2008 plan to build a new supermarket on the 7.5-acre site.

In 2017 approval was given for 317 flats but this was increased to 652 in a subsequent application proposing ten-storey blocks.

After local criticism this was reduced to 554 and finally Citystyle Fairview gained permission last year for 420 flats in blocks ranging from four to eight storeys with an undertaking to ensure the “removal of the existing elevated footbridge (leading to the tunnel) and creation of new pedestrian routes”.

A separate development is proposed by Berkeley Homes for the northern section of the gasworks site.

Victoria Quarter complex of 420 flats in New Barnet is well underway but residents fear for future of pedestrian tunnel under main railway line.

Late last year, it unveiled a plan to build 200 homes – a scheme which would result in the demolition of the 90-year-old gasometer, a well-known local landmark.

National Grid Property Holdings said the 38-metre-high frame of what was originally known as a column guided gasholder had “no particular historic or architectural merit” and “little, if any heritage value”.

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Teresa Fitzgerald posted a comment on Angry residents, community groups and primary school headteacher demand a rethink on Barnet Council’s new CPZ in Underhill

"Same thing happening around our school. Barnet council you should be ashamed of yourself"

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Gail Laser posted a comment on High Barnet Station – Mayor’s team set to decide own planning application

"I agree with everything said in the Tube Flats article. It is all so very sad and so very true..."

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G.West posted a comment on US tech firm reveals more about its plans to build one of Europe’s largest data centres in green belt land just to the south of Potters Bar

"It's been a common complaint for communities living near some of the larger scale data centres. They basically leech off..."

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Linda O'shea posted a comment on High Barnet Station – Mayor’s team set to decide own planning application

"It all seems pretty pointless objecting if the mayor can call it in and allow the scheme to go ahead..."

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