Theresa Villiers, Conservative MP for Chipping Barnet since 2005, has been returned to the House of Commons with a slightly increased majority after a closely fought general election contest against Labour candidate, Emma Whysall.
Mature trees are to be kept and the multi-storey blocks of flats to be built around High Barnet tube station have been reduced in height, but there is still to be a drastic reduction in the number of car parking spaces.
Continue reading Scaled back plans for Barnet station development
Barnet parish church of St John the Baptist is to host an evening hustings meeting for the general election on Thursday 5 December for candidates in the Chipping Barnet parliamentary constituency.
Continue reading Election hustings arranged for Chipping Barnet
Working together with other local primary and secondary schools and welcoming the involvement of community groups are among the key objectives of Aishling Ryan, newly-appointed principal of Barnet Ark Pioneer Academy which opens in September with its first intake of 180 pupils.
Continue reading Greater choice for High Barnet school children
Ark Pioneer Academy, High Barnet’s new secondary school opening in September, has started holding drop in sessions for potential parents and pupils – heightening the debate about its impact on other nearby schools.
Trustees for the fields around Whalebones, where just over 150 new homes are planned, say they believe the wishes of the former owner, the late Gwyneth Cowing, will be honoured.
Continue reading Trustees plan lasting memorial to Barnet philanthropist
For our spring public forum, the Barnet Society has arranged for an expert panel to answer questions of local interest on key issues such as the future of education and training, prospects for local employment, plans for new housing and future safeguards for the Green Belt.
Barnet’s annual Christmas fayre broke with tradition this year. Instead of being opened by the Mayor of Barnet, the ceremony was conducted by the “Lord Mayor of London, Councillor Richard Whittington” – star of the Christmas pantomime at the The Bull Theatre.
A development plan for the woods and fields around Whalebones in Wood Street, Barnet, proposes the construction of between 150 and 180 homes to be offset by the creation of two new green spaces and footpaths open to the public.
Continue reading Whalebones: up to 180 homes plus green spaces
A bumper crowd of well-wishers and Easter Saturday shoppers turned out for the opening of the first Barnet Teenage Market.
A group of residents campaigning to stop housing development on the Whalebones farmland are investigating several options for safeguarding one of High Barnet’s much-loved green spaces.
A damp Sunday afternoon did little to dampen the excitement for countless children who enjoyed the traditional fun fair that has become such a popular attraction at Barnet’s annual Christmas Fayre.
Creating a city farm with access for volunteers and local children is one of the ideas being canvassed by Theresa Villiers, the Chipping Barnet MP, as part of her efforts to save the Whalebones open space.
High Barnet’s police station will close to the public by the end of the year along with 36 other police stations across London where the Metropolitan Police is withdrawing a front counter service.
A derelict former nurses’ home that has been an eyesore for years will finally be demolished under plans to build flats and townhouses on the Marie Foster Care Home site in Wood Street, Barnet.
High Barnet police station is one of 30 or so across London where a front counter service to the public is likely to be withdrawn under a cost-cutting plan announced by the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan.
Plans to replace a semi-derelict vacant shop that has blighted Union Street for many years will go a long way towards finishing off a make-over for one of High Barnet’s historic thoroughfares.
An 18-year struggle by a group of “ageing, stubborn but steadfast” women reached its grand finale with glasses of champagne and canapes all round to celebrate the opening in High Barnet of the UK’s first co-housing project for seniors.
Continue reading Success for “stubborn but steadfast” women pioneers
Preserving two massive jaw bones from a ninety-foot-long blue whale is just one of the challenges facing the new owners of Barnet’s historic Whalebones House, one of the town’s oldest residences surrounded by woods and fields that are now threatened with redevelopment.
Continue reading Wanted: Advice on protecting Barnet’s whalebones
Virgin Media is to offer homes and businesses in High Barnet a rival broadband service after long-standing complaints that British Telecom has failed to satisfy the demand of around 3,000 households for a superfast connection.
A ready supply of lively and forthright questions kept the politics and views of the Chipping Barnet MP Theresa Villiers firmly under the spotlight at her annual question and answer session with members of the Barnet Society and other local associations.
Downsizing of the Chipping Barnet Library – with much of the floor area being converted into commercial office space – is proceeding apace after planning permission was granted by Barnet Council.
After what for her personally – and for the rest of the country – has been a momentous political year, the Chipping Barnet MP Theresa Villiers, will be the guest of the Barnet Society at our annual question and answer session at 3pm on Friday 20 January.
Well over 300 members, friends and supporters attended the preview of the Barnet Guild of Artists’ 68th annual exhibition which continues at Christ Church, St Albans Road, until Saturday 6 August.
Continue reading Harbour scenes capture attention at artists’ exhibition
An announcement that had been expected in early June about a go-ahead for the Spires shopping centre redevelopment has still not materialised, and there is still no date when work might start.
Schools in and around Barnet are already queuing up for their pupils to visit the Byng Road nature reserve and its new eco-friendly environment centre after its official opening by leading benefactor Janet Hulme of the Hadley Trust.
Any planning application to build houses on the 14 acres of woods and farmland at Whalebones – between Wood Street and Barnet Hospital – is “highly unlikely” to be approved, says the Chipping Barnet MP Theresa Villiers.
Opposition is mounting to the possibility that 14 acres of woods and farmland at Whalebones, between Wood Street and Barnet Hospital, might be zoned for housing and community use.
Responding to fears about the possible zoning for housing of the woods and fields around Whalebones Park, the Chipping Barnet MP Mrs Theresa Villiers says she is ready to “lie down in front of the bulldozers” in any fight to preserve a cherished open space.
The purchase by a property company of Barnet’s former British Legion hall at the corner of Moxon Street and Tapster Street has opened up for residential redevelopment another swathe of land immediately to the east of the High Street.
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