Newsletter September 2009

Our AGM on 23rd June proved to be a lively affair, with the Asda/Tesco proposals for New Barnet our main topic for discussion. David Howard of New Barnet Residents Association outlined the evolution of the two sets of proposals, the reaction of the community, handling by the council, and the progress of the public campaign to stop both schemes. Asda and Tesco have gone away to rethink their plans, and it is expected that both will come back with something more modest than what they first proposed. So far it is 2-0 to the community, but there is a long battle ahead. Michael Hynes, manager of Waitrose, was also present and commented from the perspective of our local supermarket which might suffer if either proposal comes to fruition.

Meantime your committee has been active on a number of fronts and we have a lot to report on various issues.

High St Conservation Areas

We are rather pleased with the appearance of the newly opened Tesco Express south of the Church. To be fair to Tesco, they did propose very little alteration to this well -preserved shop front, but we did vet their plans very carefully. The sweep from After Office Hours down as far as Londis now looks quite presentable apart from the hideous frontage to Paddy Power. We cannot say the same for the properties on the opposite side of the road - not one of them can be said to sensitively reflect their conservation status.

It is also heartening that the council is pressing Costcutter to restore the shop frontage in place of the open area at the front. Further up the High St they are pressing for the boarded-up frontage to the former Turkish restaurant on the corner of Moxon St to be re-glazed, which would go a long way to alleviating the air of dereliction in this part of the High St. The council has also served enforcement notices on the new owners of the former Crown and Anchor building to try to restore the building to some level of decency. Up by Hadley Green we still await the decision of the appeal to the Planning Inspector regarding the alterations to the shop windows at 203 High St.

The conversion of the former Register Office on Wood St to a Coroner's Court is close to completion, hopefully ensuring a secure and appropriate use for this fine building. When its future looked in doubt we took steps to get the building Listed, one of our early successes following the revival of BRA.

In Union Street work has started converting the former Albion pub to residential use.

High St Battles On

The ferocity of the recession and changing habits of shoppers has left some High Streets in the UK with up to 30% of their shops standing empty. Fortunately we have not suffered anything like that, although the area south of Union St is evidently struggling. One sad recent closure was John Pollock outdoor clothing, the kind of quality retailer that we can ill-afford to lose. The right hand side of the High St running south of the Church does look particularly grim, including four empty shops in a row. On a more positive note the former vac/flower shop has re-opened as a 'smoothies café' and the former computer games shop facing the Church is now an old-fashioned sweet shop, with a much more cheerful frontage. A planning application has also been lodged to convert the adjacent former charity shop to a café/takeaway, which we have opposed on the grounds that it would be a change of use losing yet another retail outlet.

In the middle of the High St we understand that Sainsburys are going to open one of their 'Local' outlets in the premises of the former Sofa Workshop. We hope it fares better than Marks and Spencer's short-lived attempt to run a food outlet there. Further up the former Mothercare shop remains empty with no further activity reported on the part of Agora, who had their attempt to open a gaming centre on the site rejected following a very successful public campaign.

We were cheered up by the ice-cream shop that opened in The Spires at the beginning of summer. It has proved to be extremely popular, but we do wonder how well it will do over the winter.

Whitings Hill School

This new and expanded school opened for business at the beginning of the autumn term with the official opening following on 30 September. It a striking piece of modern architecture, the swimming pool in particular, and includes many modern energy saving features involving the use of natural light and heat recovery.

We must hope that the fabric stands the test of time and does not end up in the same sorry state as many of the 'innovative' school buildings erected in the sixties and seventies. The school will also have to change the historic pattern of parental choice in the area if it is to fill all the available places. Only about two-thirds of the places are currently taken up from pupils previously at Whitings Hill and the now closed Barnet Hill school.

Whitings Hill was originally a two-form entry school but as a consequence of falling demand was reduced to one form only. Expanding it back to two form entry is therefore something of a gamble by the council, unless they have other plans for restructuring primary provision in our area which we have yet to see. We are very aware of the attempt three years ago to expand Foulds school and move it to a new site nearby, which was quashed following strong local opposition. At that time we were never told whether the proposed expansion of Foulds would result in less provision elsewhere. What we did know then was that the Education Authority long term forecast was for an overall reduction in demand for primary places in this area, though this could have now been revised upwards following the recent rise in the national birth rate.

The buildings and playground at Whitings Hill were designed with the expectation that facilities such as the main hall, the swimming pool, and the outdoor all weather surfaces could be used by the community. We do hope this will come to pass as the immediate area is poorly served when it comes to recreational activities.

The council is now left with what to do with the Barnet Hill school site. Originally this was to provide the land for the first phase of the rebuild of the Dollis Valley estate. But with that project now on hold the council is now trying to find an alternative use for the school buildings and outdoor areas. It is bad enough that the residents have lost their local school for a rebuilding project that has not happened. It would add insult to injury if the site degenerates into a vandalised eyesore.

Barnet Market

There has been no change to what we reported in our last newsletter. Some months ago the owners did some initial re-covering of the surface of the old site, and have maintained that is their intention to move the market back there. But it has still not happened, creating a continuing sense of uncertainty. The lease on the temporary site in Stapylton Rd car park ran out in the summer but the council has allowed the market to stay there on an 'at will' basis. Friends of Barnet Market with whom we are closely involved, continue to provide support by way of publicity, and are actively working to ensure that the market will be secure in the long term.

In the meantime do give the market your support by shopping there.

Crime and Anti-Social Behaviour

We have consistently reported on the low crime rate in our area and the fact that Barnet is one of the safest places in London. The problem of purse thefts around the High Street never went away completely despite the sterling efforts of our Safer Neighbourhood Team and more recently thefts have increased a little.

It has however come as something of a surprise to learn that High Barnet recently became a hot spot for ATM fraud. This has taken two forms - withdrawal of cash using stolen or forged credit cards, and tampering with machines so that card details and PIN numbers can be read. The police have been alert to the problem and made 15 arrests over the summer, but there is a need for cash machine users to be vigilant.

There has also been a rise in burglary, along with an increase in shoplifting in The Spires, both perhaps not unexpected consequence of the recession. The miscreant youths hanging around Chesterfield Circus have continued to be a nuisance to the local residents, though again the problem has much improved by the efforts of the Safer Neighbourhood Team. The Teams have been particularly active in keeping a lid on off-licences selling alcohol to minors.

The local press has recently featured an apparent problem with pizza deliverers being mugged for their money ..or their pizzas. We do not know just how serious the problem is, but apparently the suppliers are refusing to deliver to certain areas. However residents in the supposed black listed areas continue to receive the same deluge of pizza leaflets as the rest of us!

Parking

Over two years later than we were promised, the council has a last embarked on a review of the two High Barnet CPZ areas. All residents living in the two areas received questionnaires and, so we are assured, have local traders. We did establish that residents living on the periphery had not been consulted but were told this would happen at a later stage. We know that residents in Milton and Woodfall Avenue just outside the CPZ at the Mays Lane end made a fuss and have now been sent questionnaires, but we wait to see which other peripheral streets might be approached. If you are a resident in one of the streets surrounding the CPZ and have concerns about parking we urge you to contact the council and ask to be consulted.

For BRA, the main concern remains the management of public parking around the town centre and the failure of the council to encourage shoppers or to maximise potential income from unused parking bays. We are promised this aspect will feature as part of the CPZ review … but nothing yet.

In our previous newsletter we reported the decision by the council to increase parking charges by about 15%. If you are obliged to drive in, shopping for two hours in High Barnet can now cost you the princely sum of £3.50. It was perhaps inevitable that on the back of this The Spires would also increase their parking charges, now up by 10p to 60p an hour. This is a bargain compared to what the council charges, but at three times what it cost not long ago this too is now a source of some resentment - yet another disincentive to shopping in High Barnet.

Meantime the council Highways Department has continued to pursue its policy of putting traffic flow before any other considerations by introducing more yellow lines, this time at various points along Bells Hill. It is a fair bet that making it easier for vehicles to use this very narrow road will result in more traffic. The residents have not been asked whether this is what they want.

High Barnet Station

The work to allow disabled access is nearly complete and should be in use by mid-October. The new entrance off the turning circle should also be welcomed by many users walking from the car park or being dropped off. There will be a ticket machine but the old booking office will remain, so this could still be a problem for a disabled person who needs to consult with an official.

The new walkway round the buffer stops cannot be said to be very elegant, but it is covered and a valuable facility for anyone who has difficulty with stairs. An attempt has been made to match the brickwork of the new entrance building with the attractive original Great Northern Railway buildings, though because of its rather awkward shape it cannot be said to be an architectural enhancement.

Other Organisations

As a new feature, from time to time we will aim to include in our newsletters information about other community organisations that might be of interest to our members. If you belong to a group that might be suitable for inclusion and would like some publicity do contact the Secretary. As a starter, we are featuring :-

Friends of Ravenscroft Gardens

This group was formed in 2007 taking inspiration from the success that followed from the creation of the Friends Group for Highlands Gardens. There was a feeling around that Ravenscroft Gardens were at best looking rather tired, not being one of the council's 'premier parks', and there had been problems with vandalism. The Friends aim to promote the involvement and education of the community in conserving and enhancing the Gardens. They meet regularly to monitor the condition of the gardens and to develop a strategy for improvements. This summer they held a highly successful 'Victorian Fun Day', which hopefully will be repeated.

To contact the friends phone 020 8344 2674 or see Duncan Macdonald's blog.

RESIDENTS FORUMS

The Forums provide residents with an opportunity to put questions to councillors and officials on local issues. Questions are usually tabled in advance to ensure that an appropriate official will be present. Your committee routinely attends and uses these events to press the council on many of the matters discussed in this newsletter,

The Forums are held every 6-8 weeks in varying locations starting at 6.30pm:

15 October - Danegrove school, Windsor Drive, East Barnet
24 November - Chipping Barnet Library, Stapylton Rd, High Barnet

To table a question contact pauline.bagley@barnet.gov.uk