Newsletter September 2007

MEMBERS NEWSLETTER SEPTEMBER 2007

Contents

(These are all links to sections further down this page)

A future for our High Street?

Planning Issues

Hospital Parking

The Spires Car Park

Crime and anti-social behaviour

High Barnet Station

Foulds School

A future for our High Street?

A walk out along the High Street and through The Spires on a Saturday morning can be quite an uplifting experience; the pavements hum with large numbers of shoppers, many of whom idle away a pleasant hour or so in the outdoor seating provided by the three coffee shops. We see queues in the market, with customers travelling in from far and wide to take advantage of the low prices on offer. Waitrose, widely regarded as a superior top-end supermarket chain, maintains a busy and prosperous air. Hairdressers, beauticians and delis are a sign that there are people around with plenty of discretionary spending power.

But look a little deeper and the picture is not so rosy. On weekdays there are far fewer people around, and many of them are the elderly. The numerous charity shops and 'pound shops' can be very busy, more a sign that many who use our High Street are short of spending power. The proliferation of fast food shops may be an inevitable consequence of the demands of the students using Barnet College, but offer little to attract shoppers to the High Street, and create an image that is more often than not associated with less desirable areas.

At the bottom end of the High Street there are several empty shops, the most recent casualty being Argos, and replacement retailers seem thin on the ground. Vodaphone and Birthdays in The Spires have recently closed down. Given the proliferation of mobile phone and greetings card outlets a shake-out does not come as a surprise, but what will we get instead?

Changes in retailing are inevitable as fashion and customer needs change. Cars are universal and people travel to whatever shopping centre appeals to them. Can our traditional High Street compete with retail parks and modern shopping centres such as Brent Cross and London Colney? How will it cope with the increased trend to internet shopping, especially travel, music and books. The problem is the same all over the country, but not all is doom and gloom - many councils have responded with considerable success. Harrow and Watford shopping centres, for example, have been largely rebuilt and pedestrianised.

So what has happened in the Borough of Barnet?....precious little is the short answer. Of course the Borough does have the problem in that in lacks a single main centre on which it can focus. Unless you conclude that Brent Cross now fulfils this role, the Borough is saddled with something like twenty medium-to-small shopping centres all serving relatively local areas. But should this be a justification for inaction? Around the Borough residents despair at the run-down state of their High Streets. Yet, nowhere do we find large-scale pedestrianisation, pavement widening, measures to curb traffic whilst facilitating easy access, the provision of cheap and plentiful parking, or schemes to make shop displays and signage more appealing. Here in High Barnet the modest Spires development, with the inclusion of Waitrose and the associated relatively cheap parking has so far been our saviour. But will this be enough in the long run?

The good news is that our Council is well aware of the problem. The Council argues that the suburbs get a poor financial deal compared to expenditure on the centre of London, and have launched a campaign to try and change this. However, the reality of recent years has been either a lack of awareness or an unwillingness to acknowledge the decline in our town centres. So it is pleasing that at least a partial change of heart has recently seen the High Street re-paved and some of the clutter of street furniture removed. But the problems of narrow pavements, choking traffic and limited and expensive Council-run short-term parking remain. Noise, ugly signage (especially some of the larger chains) and an absence of greenery add to the overall lack of the kind of facilities and environment that shoppers have come to expect.

The Council has said that it intends to develop a strategy for the Boroughs town centres, and will shortly undertake a traffic survey in High Barent. There is also an intention to develop some kind of Planning Brief for the High Street area. We are taking these initiatives as a signal that perhaps something more radical could be done to produce major improvements to our shopping centre. We aim to work up some thoughts on the matter over the coming months. We would be pleased to hear what you think about the current state of affairs and if you are able to suggest any possible solutions.

Planning Issues

Apart from the continuing saga of Barnet College and a new proposal to improve Barnet F.C. Stadium, the summer has been very quiet with regard to planning applications. Indeed, the silence regarding commencement of the approved Market redevelopment and the large residential development on the site of the Park Rd Industrial Estate is somewhat disconcerting. Lengthy delays sometimes indicate that a re-think may be going on. We have no evidence of this but we will be relieved to see both of these schemes commence according to the agreed plans. We expressed views on these at the time the applications were submitted and, with some minor reservations, considered both to be acceptable.

There is also a disappointing lack of progress on the Dollis Valley redevelopment. The long-suffering residents have endured several years of promises but still have nothing positive when it comes to knowing when they are likely to be re-housed. At the moment the project appears to be bogged down in sorting out the contractural relationship between the Council and the main players. A formal planning application is expected towards the end of the year – we have already expressed reservations regarding the outline scheme published last year.

More positive is the progress on the redevelopment of Barnet College, which has recently received planning approval. Scrutinising the plans has taken up a lot of our time this year, but we have found the College very accommodating in giving us opportunities to express our views and almost all the concerns we raised were take on board in the plans finally submitted to the Council. We and other residents expressed doubts about the high wall to be erected in front of the Tudor Hall, thought by the College to be a good idea to hide the parked cars and to reflect what was originally built there. Despite the objections the wall was approved. Our other residual concerns were taken on board by the Council planners – the College will have to return to Committee with clarification of the finish and materials which will be used for the exterior of the main building. They must produce a contractors' management plan showing how they will minimise disruption to residents and traffic before the work can go ahead.

Following rejection of the proposed South Underhill scheme and the expected fruitless search to find an alternative site, Barnet F.C. undertook some alterations last year to improve access and official parking. Not surprisingly, they have now submitted a planning application for a much more ambitious scheme improve the spectator areas including the erection of a new stand at the north end. This would have a major impact on the residential property in Westcombe Drive, so is not without controversy.

Hospital Parking

In the June Newsletter we reported at length on our battle with the Hospital and the Council to try and ameliorate the chaos that surrounds public parking at Barnet Hospital. Though both organisations have maintained an imperious silence in relation to our various approaches and comments in Barnet Times, it seems that we have been noticed. The Hospital has created some new staff parking places near the old nurses homes, and we have seen security staff discouraging employees from parking in the public parking areas immediately in front of the main entrance. The situation remains far from satisfactory, but it is pleasing that some effort has been made.

Meanwhile we have had yet another attempt to persuade Barnet Council to adjust the bays around Ravenscroft Park to allow all day public parking to take some pressure off the Hospital car park. Still no response, and meantime the residents' and short-term pay bays continue to stay largely empty throughout the day.

The Spires Car Park

Yet more parking problems. The owners of the Spires (UBS Bank) had the bright idea of contracting out the management of the car park to Britannia. Alas, this now means that the car park managers are solely concerned with maximising short-term revenue and are now divorced from any interest in the viability or otherwise of the traders in the Spires. Not surprisingly, the hourly charge was immediately more than doubled and extended to evenings and Sundays which had previously been free. Waitrose, the only Spires trader regularly open evenings and Sundays felt an immediate impact and campaigned to have the free parking re-instated. We were more than happy to lend our weight to the campaign and separately approached Britannia. Partial success was achieved with free evening parking re-instated.

Crime and anti-social behaviour

The previously reported low level of reported crime has continued, though as ever concerns remain over the continuing daytime theft of purses. The key shop in the Spires sells chains which can clip a purse or handbag to a shopping bag or trolley, though it does mean drilling a hole in the purse (which the shop will do for you). Older ladies who routinely use the High Street during the day, and are the majority of victims, might find it helpful to look into this.

Another local problem is distraction theft from people leaving the local banks having just withdrawn a large amount of cash. Apart from the Post Office, all the local banks have agreed that on request they will contact the Safer Neighbourhood Team to provide an escort to home or car.

Although drunken disorder on the High Street is much reduced nowadays following the arrival of the SNTs, the news that the long-awaited conversion of the Dandelion (Formerly The Avenue/Red Lion) to a family eating venue is about to happen can only be good news. It is unlikely that any of the other licenced venues in the High Street will have the same kind of appeal to large numbers of young people.

High Barnet Station

Our campaign to improve public access to High Barnet has rumbled on with TFL continuing to ignore the issues we have raised, especially our concerns over the recent fencing off of the forecourt and the resulting chaos in the evening when cars waiting to pick-up clog the turning circle and approach ramp. TFLs argument that the forecourt was fenced off to facilitate access by the emergency services remains specious in our view. If anything matters are now worse as staff or contractors vehicles regularly park in the access road behind the barrier making it more difficult for emergency vehicles to get close to the station. When members of the public previously waited there at least they remained in their cars and could move at a moments notice.

We asked Brian Coleman, GLA member for Barnet, to at least get a response out of TFL, which eventually came with the suggestion that cars waiting to pick up should go in the car park. This is impractical so we have written back via Brian Coleman and await a further response.

Foulds School

The Council has finally abandoned the plans to expand Foulds School on the Environmental Site at the end of Byng Rd. A consultation document was put to residents living in Byng and Wentworth, and it should have come as no surprise to the Council when they voted overwhelmingly to maintain the status quo. Whilst we should perhaps congratulate the Council for engaging in a consultation exercise, it does seem odd that they should apparently allow those living near a school to determine education policy. Certainly the decision was far from popular with many parents and staff at the school. Perhaps in the end votes count for far more in a marginal ward than the well-intentioned plans of the bureaucrats.

We had doubts whether the scheme to expand Foulds was practicable, given the potential traffic problems and the sensitivities surrounding the environmental site. But we have maintained the view that the educational provision in our area should be as coherent as possible and reflect the aspirations of our parents. We wrote to the Director of Education asking what proposals the LEA had in mind for primary education in High Barnet and Underhill following the loss of an expanded Foulds. We have been assured there are currently no other proposals being considered other than the already announced merger of Barnet Hill and Whitings Hill schools. So it is now a case of watch this space.