Newsletter June 2009

As you will see from this newsletter we have a lot of issues to report on at our AGM. The proposals by Asda/Tesco for large new stores in New Barnet and their implications for High Barnet will be the main topic for discussion.

For this issue we have found that so much is happening we needed to produce a bumper six page newsletter instead of the usual four pages. We also feel that we should comment on one noticeable characteristic of our recent efforts - the very positive support we have had from Council officials. Without their active involvement over the market, the conservation areas in the High St., and our concerns over the emerging Local Development Framework, we would struggle to make any headway. Of course, not all is sweetness and light: we have still to make any progress at all over the grossly unsatisfactory parking arrangements in the town centre, so on this one we feel obliged to continue to give the Council a hard time.

High Barnet Station

We find TfL depressingly unwilling to engage in discussion on any local matters that we raise, a difficulty that even our Council struggles with so we understand. Since our complaints about staff cars parking in what should be a public forecourt, little has happened until recently. But big changes are now afoot, with good news and bad news to report. The bad news is that the decision to move some operational activity from East Finchley to Barnet has resulted in an unbelievably large and ugly building currently taking shape in the station car park. Unfortunately the railways are exempt from normal planning controls so neither the Council, nor the public, can do anything about it. As well as having to put up with this blot on the landscape we have lost a good deal of valuable station parking space.

The good news concerns public access to the station. About four years ago we learned of plans to spend £10 million to make High Barnet station step-free by installing lifts from the bridge to the platforms. We thought this was bonkers as disabled people have enormous difficulty accessing the existing booking office and the lifts would not solve this. We did get a meeting with TfL and suggested they transfer the booking office to the old building in the station forecourt with access to the far platforms by a new path around the buffer stops. Our suggestion met with a stony silence, with a hint that amateurs like us really didn’t know what we were talking about. But now the work has started they are doing ….. exactly what we suggested!

Barnet Market

At the time of going to press we are still unsure what is happening. In conjunction with the council and other local organisations we have been very active in helping to promote the market on its temporary site and ensure that the market secures a long-term home. We have been pleased with the strong support from the Council. Officers have been very active in negotiating with the market owners, Mr and Mrs Walsh, to try and resolve the issue. The redevelopment of the old site still appears to be a long way off and the temporary lease on the Stapylton Rd car park has come to an end. The owners have been reluctant to extend the lease so the situation is now critical. Clearly something has to give, but we cannot predict what will happen next. A case of watch this space.

High St Conservation Areas

Our approach to Barnet Council on the poor stewardship of the conservation areas in the High St, featured at some length in our previous newsletter, has produced a remarkably positive response. We have met on site with officials from the Council and English Heritage and separately discussed the problems with the Council’s Director of Planning. We are confident that the Council is now seized of the issue. They have instructed their enforcement team to explore abuses.

As our discussions were in progress further indignities were heaped on the former Crown and Anchor by the new occupiers, with the erection of some large and intrusive signs. The Council has instructed that the signs and the previously installed shutters be removed, and that the original windows be re-instated. However we do not underestimate the obstacles facing the Council in enforcing re-instatement. The dress shop at the top of the High St facing Hadley Green changed the windows without planning permission, and following our complaint the Council instructed that the original windows be re-instated. But the shop has appealed and we now await the decision of a remote inspector based in Bristol.

We do appreciate this new-found vigour on the part of the Council to support our view that protecting and enhancing the properties in the High St will ultimately improve trade and make High Barnet a more appealing place to live. In the long-run though it is a matter of winning the hearts and minds of retailers. We have to convince them that bold and brash frontages are out of keeping with the character of the area and create a down market image that harms rather than benefits both them and the town. The new Tesco Express should reflect the standard we are seeking. We scrutinised the planning application in some detail and were satisfied that Tesco were being sympathetic to the historical integrity of the building. However, we await the removal of the hoardings to ensure that the finished product conforms to what the Council approved.

We were also pleased to learn that English Heritage attach considerable importance to the historic significance of the Church and are keen to enhance its setting, particularly so now that the adjacent ugly college building has gone. They would like to see the green area behind the Church extended with the clutter of traffic lights etc removed. We believe this could be achieved as part of a general re-think of traffic management in the area, but would entail substantial remodelling of the junction and finding an alternative turning point for the 34 bus. On this last point we might have the answer...

The 34 Bus

This is another of our campaigns that has been rumbling along for some time and so far without success. This bus runs from Walthamstow to Barnet Church, the only route to terminate there. The Hospital Trust has made public noises about wanting to improve public transport to Barnet Hospital and some time ago we suggested they lobby TfL to get the 34 extended either to the Hospital or to The Arkley. We have tried to find out if they ever did anything to take the idea forward but they seem to have blanked it out. The issue has now assumed another dimension as the Council will receive some funds from the college to improve the area, which they have told us they plan to spend on improving the junction by the Church. We have not established exactly what the Council has in mind, but we know that the need to provide a turning point for the 34 is regarded as a major obstacle to any changes. So it does seem that if the 34 can be extended this could go a long way to achieving the aspirations of the Hospital, the Council, and English Heritage. We have also pointed out that if the waiting bay for the 34 is removed the northbound bus stops could be re-located there, freeing up the movement of traffic seeking to take the left fork into Wood St.

High Street battles on

Given reports in the national press of some town centres now having up to 29% of their shops empty we are perhaps doing rather well here in High Barnet. There are noticeable problems at the lower end of the High St., with ten shops currently vacant. The loss of trade from students at the temporarily closed Barnet College has probably been partly responsible for the spate of closures in the immediate area as well as the downturn in the economy. In the middle and upper High St there are far fewer premises empty, but Sofa Workshop and Bay Trading Co. have been recent casualties.

On a happier note, Windsor Classics managed to resolve their differences with The Spires management over their lease and are continuing in business. We also have hopes that the Tesco Express shortly to open in the former Imperial China premises will provide a welcome boost to the area south of the Church.

High Street Pavement

The relaying of the pavements in the High Street a couple of years ago was a most welcome initiative on the part of the Council and has made an immense difference to the appeal of the area. So we were not pleased when a large a patch of ugly and uneven tarmac appeared outside the QS clothing shop in the middle of the High St. The work was done some months ago and there is no sign of the paving slabs being re-instated. We understand that EDF Electricity undertook the work and we have asked the Council to investigate. A couple of slabs of the wrong size and wrong colour have also appeared outside Iceland for reasons unknown to us.

Whilst trivial in themselves it is the collective impact of these insidious depredations that will ultimately result in our High St. reverting to the kind of tatty mess that it was previously. Sadly, we have a long way to go to persuade litter louts, chewing gum spitters, thoughtless contractors and insensitive shopkeepers that a modicum of civic pride would make life so much better for everyone.

More Pavements.....

The Council has at last come up trumps with more bollards to stop buses and heavy vehicles mounting the relatively new footpath along Alston Rd. SPACES (the residents’group that represents Alston Rd and roads off) has been campaigning on the issue for years and we extend our congratulations on their success. We would like to see bollards installed by the council as a routine feature when re-laying pavements on roads that frequently carry buses and heavy vehicles. We certainly could have done with this when the High St pavement was relaid; there is now evidence of damage at several locations.

Planning Issues

All remains relatively quiet apart form Asda and Agora, both individually discussed below. The Spires and market redevelopment schemes remain moribund and the rebuild of Dollis Valley seems to be pedalling backwards since the Council lost their private sector partner. Although it is most regrettable that the residents may have to wait years longer before their life-expired flats are replaced, we hope the delay will allow a period of reflection as to whether it really would be sensible to build an additional 800 small flats for sale. Fortunately neither Barnet College nor the new school at Whitings Hill have suffered from cutbacks in the Government’s education capital investment programme. Both schemes are proceeding apace. The school is on target to open in September. The school will include a swimming pool that should be available for community use, a most welcome provision in a Borough noted for its paucity of recreational facilities.

In our previous newsletter we wrongly reported that the Albion pub was to re-open, when in fact it has it has been sold for residential development. Initial scrutiny of the planning application suggests this will be a tasteful scheme sensitive to the surrounding properties in this conservation area.

We are continuing to contribute to the Council’s draft Local Development Framework. Our pressure to include individual town centre strategies seems to have paid off: work on one for New Barnet is now in progress and we expect one for High Barnet to follow. One aspect of all this is a study commissioned by the Council to define the ‘character’ of the Borough. We were asked to submit two photographs showing the best and worse of High Barnet. We provided the two views below. We thought Union St typified the excellent well-preserved Georgian and Victorian housing that we have in abundance, whilst the High St view reflects the worst of the redevelopment that has done so much damage to the appeal of our historic town centre. We also drew attention to the clutter of ugly street furniture that doesn’t help.

Asda/Tesco in New Barnet

The efforts of New Barnet Residents Association over these proposals has been a model of what organisations such as ours can do to provide the focus necessary to galvanise local opinion and instigate a campaign. Public meetings to discuss the proposals have been packed, and over 1700 objections to the Asda planning application have been received by Barnet Council (the largest ever number of objections to a single scheme received by the Council we understand).

We initially decided to keep out of this issue until we learned that Asda are likely to take much of their trade from shops in the surrounding areas, including an estimated £3 million from Waitrose in High Barnet. This would have an inevitable negative knock-on effect on the rest of our shopping centre, and similarly affect other town centres such as Whetstone and East Barnet. In conjunction with the manager at High Barnet Waitrose we distributed some 1500 leaflets encouraging High Barnet residents to put in their own objection to the Asda scheme. It is most gratifying that our efforts have generated over 200 objections from this area.

Agora Gaming Centre

This saga has taken a number of strange turns but happily residents have so far come out on the winning side. We thought Agora would appeal against the rejection of their planning application to establish a gaming centre in the former Mothercare shop in the High St. But they didn’t. Instead they put in another planning application, this time to convert the premises to a coffee shop! Residents were deeply suspicious that this might be a ploy to get round the earlier decision, so the campaign was re-ignited to get this application rejected as well. It worked! It cannot often be the case that 200 residents in a locality would object to something seemingly as innocuous as a coffee shop, but that is what happened. To date Agora has not appealed against this decision either, but they may still have it in mind to have another punt.

We extend our congratulations to those residents running this campaign who did a lot of research into the activities of gaming companies and how planning applications have fared elsewhere. We have not been in the lead but we have given the campaign our full support including opposing the planning applications and distributing leaflets. In Potters Bar residents have been running a strong campaign to try and stop similar premises opening up there, but alas the application has been approved. If you are curious you could now try Southgate, Borehamwood and soon Potters Bar to see what these places are like.

Police Consultation

The Borough police have recently publicised satisfaction with the continuing decline in the crime rate. Here in High Barnet the spate of purse thefts in the High St., once running at four a week, has declined to around one a week. They have put a lot of effort into public education and this seems to have paid off.

A recent widely advertised public consultation meeting at The Bull was well attended, and the police are now extending public consultation by seeking views on street visibility. The closing date for consultation is Friday 19th June. Find out more at http://www.keysurvey.co.uk/survey/256882/124a/.

Parking - going backwards

Parking charges across the Borough were planned to increase from April – by a mammoth 15% or more. Anyone visiting High Barnet and using street pay and display will pay the princely sum of £1.70 for an hour or £4.50 all day. No wonder parking bays are empty whilst free areas such as Byng/Wentworth, Bells Hill and the bottom of Manor Drive are overrun all day with parked cars. At £3.20 the station now seems a positive bargain – probably the first time in living memory that it has been cheaper to park at the station than in nearby streets.

We are continuing to press the case that these charges are absurdly high and distort public behaviour. It is a nonsense that so much parking space close to the town centre lies empty, when a little flexibility could bring it into use and generate extra revenue. We were promised two years ago that there would soon be a review….the last promise was that one should start this month……..but nothing yet.

And Finally……….some musings from abroad

There is a widespread perception that we suffer from poor quality public services in the UK. Your Editor recently visited a number of towns in France and took a particular interest in matters such as the streetscape, traffic management and public transport. There was lots to admire, particularly the careful conservation of historic areas and a far more relaxed approach to parking – no British obsessions such as painting yellow lines everywhere and petty restrictions. Many small towns had a tiny minibus running continuously around the central area (TfL would not even discuss a Station-Hospital-Spires minibus which we believe would bring enormous benefits to our town). Street furniture was generally pleasing to the eye, even including some splendid ornate cast iron gas lamps, in stark contrast to the ugly clutter we put up with. And, very sensibly, pavements were often protected by bollards, thus ensuring no uneven or broken surfaces from vehicles mounting the kerb. Maybe the management of the urban environment could indeed be so much better in the UK if our councils could remove their blinkers and make more effort to see how others do it.

RESIDENTS FORUMS

We make a point of attending the Council’s Resident’s Forums where we have pressed councillors and officials on many of the issues discussed in this newsletter. If you have concerns on any matters for which the council is responsible it is well worth turning up to make your point, no matter how trivial the issue might seem, or just turn up if you want to learn more about what is going on in your area. The next Forum is on 16th June. More details can be found on the council website at www.barnet.gov.uk

INVITATION TO ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

There will be reports from the Chairman a Membership update, followed by election of Officers. We need to elect Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer and Committee Members (up to seven places). We are keen to recruit new members to the committee and if you are interested please contact the Secretary no later than the day before the meeting.

Following the formal business David Howard of New Barnet Residents Association will lead a discussion on the controversial Asda/Tesco plans for new stores in New Barnet, with particular reference to how community groups can galvanise public opinion to influence the planning process. This should be a lively and stimulating event, so please come along. You will also have the opportunity raise any other local matters that you consider may be a cause for concern.