Summer 2017 02 New Owners of Whalebones House in the Jaws of Dilemma
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Barnet Society SUMMER CAMPAIGNING FOR A BETTER BARNET 2017 BARNET HIGH STREET Also in this issue: Whalebones’ new owner Page 2 Row over controversial Threat to workshops Page 3 Battle of Barnet co-ordinator Page 4 build-outs rumbles on Annual reports Pages 6-11 At the end of March, the Council published of moving loading bays to adjacent 7. It might be advisable to erect well a proposal for pavement build-outs and streets. We agree: loading bays should designed bollards on build-outs for other pedestrian improvements to the be in the High Street, not side streets. safety purposes. High Street for public consultation, Robin Some parking spaces for very short-term 8. The relative widths of build-outs and Bishop writes shoppers would also be desirable. carriageway should be reconsidered, Earlier versions had been discussed with the 2. The build-outs should be primarily especially where larger vehicles turn Town Team, but this was the first time that to widen footways for pedestrian from Salisbury Road into the High Street. most members of the Barnet Society or public convenience and safety and trees, not 9. Cyclist safety is an important issue. had seen any details. Although the Society urban infrastructure like advertising The present High Street layout has long campaigned for improvements in boards or (except in the most provides flexibility for evasive the High Street, it became apparent that favourable locations) seating. manoeuvres by both cyclists and many objected to aspects of the plan. We 3. The wider pavement spaces, e.g. in front motorists, but the current proposal therefore submitted the following comments: of KFC and Boots, should be investigated would reduce this. It could also “The Barnet Society supports the general for additional trees, whether in the encourage cyclists onto the pavement, intention of the latest Council proposals. ground or in containers. A Council endangering pedestrians We and the Town Team have striven survey a few years ago showed little 10. The balance between short and longer- for years to revive the High Street area, available space between buried utilities, term parking tariffs and payment economically, environmentally and visually, but this should be re-examined. methods in the centre is worth and to complete the ‘green chain’ of trees 4. Trees should be planted directly into re-examining to encourage displaced from Barnet Hill to Hadley Green. Selective the ground. Containers should be motorists to park away from the High pavement build-outs, sustainable new trees used only as a last resort, because they Street. Current regeneration of The and some upgrading of the pedestrian would require watering and ongoing Spires and the new H&M store makes realm would do much to assist this. maintenance that the Council may this timely. But the Society is aware of objections to not be able to provide in future. Any • We would also like: some details of the latest plan. We regret container must be of robust enough A clearer decision-making process to be that the consultation has not been widely design to resist natural deterioration agreed and properly publicised. advertised, properly presented or exhibited over decades, vandalism and vehicle around Chipping Barnet. Public explanation impact, and enable them to be moved • Information on the timescale for of the plan’s key features might have if necessary. developing the design and specification mollified residents’ and traders’ doubts, and carrying out the works. 5. The choice of tree species is critical. We and reassured them that limited resources have the expertise to offer advice, and • Consultation on other key details of would be spent to optimal effect. would be pleased to do so (subject to the designs, e.g. paving and street As things stand, though, we must agreed budget, timing and process). furniture – early enough for discussion record reservations about the necessity or to take place without jeopardising the 6. Some build-out space could be effectiveness of aspects of the proposals: programme. designated shared ‘off-street’ parking 1. Complete continuity of pavement build- space (as in the earlier option dated At the time of writing the public comments out along the west side of the High 21/04/2016), allowing pedestrian use are being reviewed, and we understand Street is not essential. We note the Town when not occupied by very short-term that there will be a meeting of all parties Team’s recommendation that Barnet parking, e.g. outside the Post Office and to discuss the best way forward. Join the Council should “look again” at the option immediately north of Union Street. debate: [email protected] AGM, June 15, Pennefather Hall, St Albans Road Summer 2017 02 New owners of Whalebones House in the jaws of dilemma Preserving two massive jaw bones from a 90-foot- long blue whale is just one of the challenges facing the new owners of Whalebones House, one of Barnet’s oldest residences and surrounded by woods and fields that are now threatened with redevelopment, writes Nick Jones Owners of Whalebones House, Paddy Shanahan and Helena Boland, are seeking advice on how to protect an historic Barnet landmark. The two jawbones, 24ft long and each weighing three-quarters of a ton, were installed at the Wood Street entrance to the house in 1939, and replaced an earlier pair of jawbones thought to be As the new owners of have been erected in the 1860s, or perhaps as early as the 1830s. Although the two existing jaw bones appear sturdy and Whalebones, we do feel remain firmly in place, there are gaps and cracks in places and we have a responsibility much of the surface is covered in moss. to do whatever we can to Paddy Shanahan and his wife Helena Boland, who moved “ into Whalebones in January, are anxious to get advice on the protect this historic pair best way to protect the bones now that they are nearly 80 years of jaw bones, and we do old, and have become rather weather beaten. hope we can track down The jaw bones were taken from a blue whale that was captured in the South Seas in the late 1930s, and they were experts who can advise on shipped to Hull from Bergen, in Norway, and then transported to how they should best be Barnet by lorry. cleaned and preserved” Whalebones House and the adjoining farm, fields and woods, are part of the Wood Street conservation area. When the - Paddy Shanahan. designation was made in the 1960s, Barnet Council’s planning department obtained advice on preservation methods from the Natural History Museum in London. irreplaceable green space between Wood Street and Barnet “As the new owners of Whalebones, we do feel we have a Hospital. In their Facebook post, Mr Shanahan and Ms Boland, say responsibility to do whatever we can to protect this historic pair they intend to maintain Whalebones House and its three acres of of jaw bones, and we do hope we can track down experts who grounds as they were meant to be. can advise on how they should best be cleaned and preserved,” “We have a Sylvia Crowe designed garden which we are said Mr Shanahan. endeavouring to re-establish. There are upwards of 50 trees on our Mr Shanahan and his wife have joined a Facebook page, grounds with TPO protection. This is a real oasis where every form “Whalebones Farm Barnet – Save our Green Space”, which is of wildlife exists.” campaigning to block an attempt by the trustees who own the In their statement announcing the appointment of land, and who intend to seek planning permission for housing in housebuilder, Hill, to explore the possibilities for developing up to the fields woods that surround Whalebones House. 11 of the 14 acres of woods and farm land that is within the Wood Under an agreement reached with a leading housebuilder, Street conservation area, the trustees for the late Gwyneth Cowing Hill, of Waltham Abbey, Essex, trustees for the late Gwyneth say the earliest an application for planning permission might be Cowing, who lived at Whalebones for many years, say that they are made would be towards the end of this year. exploring possibilities for building houses on the 11 acres of land Initially the aim is to promote the site for inclusion in Barnet they own. Council’s new local plan for housing development within the The house, which has had several owners since Miss Cowing’s borough death, is hidden from view being surrounded by its own three The trustees acknowledged the significance of the acres of grounds which include two ponds and around 50 trees Whalebones woods and fields. “This is very close to the Green subject to tree protection orders. Belt and it is a unique site, and it needs a unique solution”. Well over 1,000 members have signed up to the Facebook A survey sent out by local MP Theresa Villiers showed campaign launched to preserve the entire 14-acre site as an overwhelming objections to building houses on the site. Summer 2017 03 Threat to workshops with flats plan Up to 40 jobs could be lost if planning permission is approved for two blocks of flats on the site of car repair workshops and other light-industrial premises at Meadow Works, between High Barnet and Whetstone Meadow Works is tucked away, just off the A1000, behind a includes provision for 78 parking spaces and 142 cycle spaces at row of commercial premises opposite Greenhill Gardens, a few basement and ground floor level. hundred yards south of the Everyman cinema. A report accompanying the application by planning One of the local landmarks that would disappear in the consultants Jones Lang Lasalle says the Meadow Works site redevelopment is the Hole in the Wall café, which has been houses a collection of dilapidated industrial buildings and other trading there for the last 83 years, and which is a well-known pit light-weight units, including two catering establishments, and stop for lorry drivers and motorists heading out of London.