News from The Barnet Society

Barnet Council's strategic planning committee has given the go ahead for the construction of a two-storey clubhouse and floodlights at the Byng Road playing fields even thought it would result in "substantial harm to the sense of openness" of surrounding Green Belt countryside.

A baby bank which provides nappies, formula milk, clothes and other essentials for babies and small children has opened a new base which is ready to help needy and vulnerable families living in Barnet, Hertfordshire, and nearby London boroughs.

After a year's work by volunteers helping to build temporary stables, classroom and an arena, the Mayor of Barnet, Councillor Nagus Narenthira, celebrated the official launch in Mays Lane, Barnet, of the new home of an equine therapy centre which assists challenged youngsters.

Barnet U3A choir gave a spirited curtain raiser for a Wellbeing Day organised by Barnet Council to promote support services and help advertise community drop-in events for elderly, needy and lonely residents.

Hertsmere Borough Council celebrated in style to launch the 84B -- the reintroduced bus route between Potters Bar railway station and High Barnet which reinstates a missing service and provides a vital connection to Barnet Hospital.

Another sign of the mounting opposition to plans to replace much of The Spires shopping centre with blocks of flats was the strength of a Saturday morning protest in Barnet High Street. Leaflets were handed out and shoppers queued up to sign a petition opposing the redevelopment.

Sitting with her dog beside Jack's Lake at the height of the Covid pandemic, New Barnet opera singer Ilona Domnich had a flash of inspiration. Could a wooded glade at the water's edge in Monken Hadley Common become an auditorium for an outdoor concert.

Barnet is having to adjust to becoming a potentially troublesome gateway to the Ultra Low Emission Zone, With this status have come problems: several cameras have already been vandalised and despite the introduction of two charge-free corridors around High Barnet, it is feared some motorists will inevitably become confused.

Housebuilders Hill say they are finalising a fresh planning application to redevelop former farmland on the Whalebones state in the Wood Street Conservation Areas, close to Barnet Hospital.

Hertsmere Borough Council has agreed to pay a subsidy of £600 a day for the re-introduction of an hourly bus service -- the 84B -- to reconnect Potters Bar to High Barnet.

Within a week of discovering development taking place within protected Green Belt woodland a group of Arkley residents have mobilised themselves to demand action from Barnet Council to prevent unauthorised house building.

Access to well-used footpaths through protected Green Belt woodland off Rowley Lane, Arkley, is being blocked by fencing and other obstructions. Trees and undergrowth are also being cleared. Nearby residents and dog walkers say they have alerted Barnet Council to what they claim are attempts to start house building without planning permission.

A route and timetable have now been published for a replacement 84-bus service between Potters Bar and High Barnet, which is due to start on Monday 4 September, the day many schools go back.

A five-year tale of mystery and intrigue over a derelict public house in New Barnet has been brought into fresh focus in the wake of the drama and controversy surrounding the fate of The Crooked House in the Black Country.

Four buses already terminate or stop at the main entrance to Barnet Hospital in Wellhouse Lane -- and a fifth will be added to the list if Hertsmere Borough Council finally gives the go ahead to restoring the 84 service.

Barnet Elizabethans Rugby Football Club hopes finally to obtain planning permission in mid-September for a two-storey new clubhouse to replace its antiquated and dilapidated changing rooms at the Byng Road playing fields.

After the High Court ruled in favour of the extension of the Ultra Low Emissions Zone to outer London, ULEZ warning signs are now being put in place to remind drivers that there are cameras ahead of them.

A united front is being organised to oppose any attempt to reconstruct The Spires shopping centre with blocks of flats which it is feared could tower above the town centre and dominate the High Barnet skyline.

If the closure of railway ticket offices goes ahead as planned, the Rail Delivery Group says redeployment of the workforce will extend the hours staff will be on duty to assist passengers at the busiest stations.

Imagine having a 15-metre-high 5G telephone mast just a few steps from the backdoor. That is the prospect facing High Barnet resident Alison Gaymer whose home backs on to a small strip of land at the junction of Wellside Close and Wellhouse Lane.