A graphic illustration at just how crap Barnet Council are at Town Planning

Guess what? Did you know that The London Borough of Barnet has one of the worlds finest museums located within it's boundaries. People travel from all around the world to visit it? I am of course talking about the Royal Air Force Museum at Hendon. And guess what happens when Tourists try and visit? They find it rather difficult, because there is no direct train service from London to the Museum. Now you may say "Well you can't just put a Train line in because there's a museum there". Nope, quite agree, but if there is one running along the back of it, how hard is it to add a Station. Are yes you say, but isn't that a bit OTT just for one of the worlds finest museums (well actually you probably wouldn't, but you know what I mean). Well if you've just built a new Town centre next to at and you have a large school and a college next door to it as well, becomes a bit of a compelling case. Here's a map to illustrate the point :-

Just in case you think there's not enough room in the cutting, here's Mill Hill Broadway, a mile and a bit up the road.

How thick do you have to be to not realise that all of the new flats in the developments on the site of the old RAF camp would be worth far more if there was a station with a link to the City right on the doorstep? I think that a visit to the RAF museum, to learn about the brave heroes who saved the country from a bunch of slobbering Nazis should be a compulsory trip for all Londoners, given that London took the worst of the Blitz. I also think that if they visited by train it would be cleaner, greener and healthier.

Sadly with a numpty like Brian Coleman in charge of Transport in Barnet, there is as much chance of that as there is of me becoming the next Pope.

Brian Coleman : The man with two brains !!!!!!

One of my correspondents was at the Mill Hill East planning public forum earlier in the week and sent me an extensive report. The following paragraph of his report caught my eye.

Cllr Coleman then did one of his tour de force speeches and said "I have no confidence in that traffic expert and I have no faith in our Highways dept.  They get every scheme wrong.  We must go to outside consultants who know what they are talking about. Proper Experts. They don’t know what they are doing. They will cause harm for many years to the area."

This seems to confirm a suspicion that I've had for some time. I have reached the conclusion that two separate brains inhabit our esteemed Mayors head. Sadly these two brains fell out many years ago and they don't talk to each other. It seems they take it in turns to be in charge, but then don't tell each other what they have done or said. It seems that the brain which was in charge of the Mayor of Barnets head on Tuesday night, was not the one who was in charge for the period of several years when Councillor Coleman was IN CHARGE OF TRANSPORT AT BARNET.

When Councillor Coleman says that the Highways department have got every scheme wrong, he clearly means Partingdale Lane, which passes next to the new development. This was his baby and he's quite right. The Council wasted a million pounds on legal challenges. Another scheme that he got the Highways department to enact was road hump removal. Residents such as those in Uphill Road Mill Hill are up in arms, now that their sleepy residential roads have become race tracks for boy racers. We all know about the Aerodrome Road scheme, where the council overspent by £11 million on a £12 million budget. Councillor Coleman denounced the suggestions for the Brent Cross Railway scheme as "men playing with trainsets" despite the huge benefit both environmentally and financially to the Borough.

The truth is that when Brian Coleman says that he has no faith in Barnet Councils Highway Department, he is really berating his own performance as roads supremo and the failure of the Conservative Administration to manage the Highways department. The sad truth is that they have no idea how to improve the Boroughs transport. What Councillor Coleman is really saying is this

"We are clueless and we need to get someone who knows what they are doing to tell us how to run the show"

If one of the most senior members of the Conservative administration is saying that after 8 years, the Tories have cocked up EVERY scheme in the borough and they are so clueless that they need to get someone to tell them how to run the show, then it is really time for the electors of Barnet to make the choice for them and kick them out of office. For the Mayor of Barnet to admit being useless three months before the election is truly unprecedented.

Who Stole the 186 Bus? Deputy Leader of Barnet Council Andrew Harper !

A chance conversation with an old friend of my mums alerted me to the hardship caused to many elderly Mill Hill residents living on  the Watford Way, south of Mill Hill Circus. Quite rightly, our pensioners get a Freedom pass, which enables them to use free travel on buses. Many elderly people will downsize their properties and move to locations with convenient bus services. One of the most popular destinations for a shopping trip for many Mill Hill residents is Brent Cross Shopping Centre. Many elderly people moved to homes close to the Watford Way to take advantage of the 186 bus service, which would deliver them to the doors of the shopping centre.

Sadly for these people, Barnet Council has paid London Buses Services Limited a huge sum, over £600,000 to divert this bus away from this road. Originally the plan was that a dedicated bus service would serve Graham Park, but the council has decided that diverting the 186 would be a better idea, ignoring all of the elderly people who this change would massively inconvenience. You can read the full details of the decision by CLICKING HERE. You will see that no thought was given to the Elderly residents of Watford Way. What shocked me even more was that this diversion was partially paid for by the developers of the RAF section St Georges London Ltd. Why should this shock me? Well the bus service diversion significantly enhances the properties, yet Barnet Council didn't get the full amount required from the developers. The Council had to find over £60,000 from its own coffers (see extract from the report).

Yes, the council is sponsoring property developers, inconveniencing local elderly residents and not even considering them in the decision. Who was the person responsible for signing off this deal? Why none other than Barnet Council's deputy Leader and Conservative party "rising star"  Andrew Harper.

So there you go. A bad deal for the Council tax payer and a bad deal for the elderly. I just don't get why our local Conservatives seem to have no understanding of local transport, no empathy with the elderly of Barnet and a strange predeliction for doing deals rather favourable to property developers.
I wonder if Mr Harper has a nice new pair of boots like his leader Lynne Hillan?

Unfinished London - A fantastic Youtube documentary

If you are interested in local history, check this out. It's superb. Thanks to Caroline Gold for the heads up

A question for James Cleverly GLA member and Boris Ambassador - Where is the common sense?

I despair of this country sometimes. It seems to me that that there is no such thing as common sense or common decency in the petty minded, bureaucrats we have to deal with. If you received an official letter from an arm of the government about one of your children, how would you react.

Putting aside the obnoxious and patronising tone for one second, you might think that my child had been up to some serious no good. Talk of courts and sentences. What henious crime do you think the offspring of Rog T have been getting up to.

Well one of my children went down to London for the day with some friends. On the way back, she decided to use the Thameslink Service from St Pancras to Mill Hill. She touched in at the Thameslink station and the barrier opened. She went and got on the train.At Mill Hill, she was stopped by a ticket inspector. "Where's your ticket" He asked. She produced her pay as you go Oyster card. He said "That's not valid at this station" My child replied "Oh, I'm sorry I didn't know, it let me get on the train and it's in zone 4 so I thought it was". The inspector replied "You should know that Thameslink isn't covered by Pay as you go". My child replied "There were no signs". The inspector was adamanant "You should have checked, I'm giving you a £20 penalty fare notice". My child has never been in trouble and was quite traumatised. As she'd touched in but not touched out, she'd actually been charged more than the cost of the journey, she'd been terrorised by a bully in a uniform and she'd been told she'd have to pay a fine.

My wife wrote a letter of appeal to the appeals service. She explained that my daughter, had made a genuine mistake. Shes not familiar with the ins and outs and arcane payment rules. She didn't realise that Thameslink is not in the scheme. There are even PAYG readers in the station. She explained that for young people, unfamiliar with all of this the system can be confusing. She explained that my daughter had used her Oyster PAYG at ST Pancras, so presumably had actually been charged for her journey. She assumed that as PAYG worked in St Pancras it would work in a Station in zone 4. The fact that Boris can't get the system to work at Mill Hill, despite having the readers installed for nearly a year, is not relevant. The fact that there are no big signs alerting kids. The fact that she'd never done it before. Nothing mattered to the cash hungry vultures. Here's what the reply said.  Click on the letter for a readable view.

Even more insulting to me was the letter from the "revenue collection" side. This is the bit of the organisation which wants your dosh. If this is how they treat youngsters who have made a genuine and understandable mistake, is there any wonder that we are losing respect for such institutions.

What justification can there possibly be for being so threatening and patronising to parents of a child who has made a genuine mistake. I can think of nothing worse than bullies in uniforms picking on children. Especially when they are backed by a cruel, heartless and aggressive bureaucracy. One other point I will make. Boris Johnson said when he took over that he'd sort out pay as you go Oyster cards on National Rail. There was a revenue protection hit squad at Mill Hill Broadway on Tuesday evening, giving penalty fares to people with PAYG Oyster cards. I asked one of these people when the PAYG Oyster, which they have readers for at Mill Hill would be available. His reply "I'm not here to answer questions". Boris's deputy mayor for Young People is a Conservative GLA member called James Cleverely. He's a good guy, by all accounts. He talks straight and seems honest. I have this question for you James. What message has all of this sent to my child? What opinion of authority will she have now? Have a word with your boss Boris and get him to sort these numskulls out. By all means fine kids if they lie, repeatedly get caught or try and evade fares. In this case a polite explanation and a warning not to do it again would have sufficed. It appalls me. Here is the full letter from the purple nasties.

Barnet Property Prices set to plummet due to Council Policy

Are you considering moving to Barnet? Are you considering moving away from Barnet? Are you not considering moving at all, but you own your own flat or house? Well if you fall into any of these categories, you really should read this blog and consider some of the points raised. There is an old saying about the three most important factors which affect the price of a house. Location, Location, Location. People will spend more money on a house if the house is in a nice area. If it's not, then they will pay far less for the same house. What makes a "nice area" :-

* Good Schools
* Good Transport Links
* Pleasant Street Scene
* Good local amenities
* Low Crime

If you have all of the above, you live in an area where the prices are most likely to be higher than neighbouring areas where this is not the case. How are Barnet Council doing in these five important areas?

Good Schools - Barnet have historically had great schools. The achievements of our best schools such as QE Boys, Henrietta Barnet and St Michaels are recognised across the country with all these schools regularly appearing at or near the top of the league tables. That is one of the main reasons that property prices in Barnet are amongst the highest in London. The trouble is that since Mike Freer took over the Council, the wheels have started to come of the school bus. There are several examples of this which have been picked up by the press. Deansbrook School will lose it's state of the art Computer suite, to accomodate another class. This is an example of the council actually spending money to MAKE A SCHOOL WORSE. The parents are up in arms. At least the children in this school will have a proper classroom. Three other Schools have placed emergency orders for PORTACABINS to accomodate the pupils starting next term. Would you move your family to an area where your kids go to school in a Portacabin? This can only have a negative effect on property prices.

Good Transport Links - The planners at Barnet want to accomodate another 80,000 people in the Borough in the next few years. There are huge developments all over the Borough, most notably at Mill Hill East, Colindale and Brent Cross. There are no planned major improvements to public Transport in these areas. A figure of £400 million is mentioned in the plans. This sounds a lot, but it cost the Council £23 Million just to replace a couple of bridges in Aerodrome Road. Much of this £400 Million is for projects unrelated to the redevelopment, such as Thameslink improvements at Cricklewood. What we need are major infrastructure projects which will give people clean, cheap and convenient alternatives to the car for their regular journeys. The only mooted scheme, the Brent Cross Railway has been scathingly written off by the Council, even though this could mitigate the effects of much of this traffic in all of these areas. That can only mean one thing - even more traffic jams. When people get sick of this, they move. When people move out, property prices drop.

Pleasant Street Scene - Am I the only person to notice how ugly the Council are making Barnet. In Mill Hill, the rather attractive flowerbeds now have ugly council sponsored advertisements for estate agents. Lamp posts have oval signs plugging obscure messages, designed solely to distract drivers from the road in front and to run people over. Nice shops and family businesses have deserted many high Streets to be replaced by bookies and fast food outlets which generate litter, smell and noise. A trip down Mill Hill Broadway on a Saturday evening used to be a pleasant affair. All we see now is litter and drunken yobs prowling. These sort of changes drive property prices down, once people start to notice.

Good Local Amenities - In Barnet Council Watch blog today, there is an expose on the policy of the council towards playing fields - sell 'em off is their clarion cry. There has been an ongoing campaign to get the council to reopen the Pavillion Road playing fields in Burnt Oak. What has happened? Nothing. My son plays football for Watling Club. Last season many matches were abandoned because the council, despite receiving fees for the football pitches, didn't maintain them during the wet weather. At a Hendon Residents forum meeting, I raised this point. Tory Councillor Hugh Rayner stood up and said "I often visit Burnt Oak Leisure ceentre and the facilities are fine". I responded "Do you ever go round the back and check on the football pitches" Councillor Rayner rather sheepishly responded "No".
If kids don't have positive outlets for their energy, they'll soon find negative ones. What will happen then to the value of the housing stock as gangs roam and drug use spirals up? Which brings us nicely on to

Low Crime - Barnet is historically quite a low crime area, where people of all races, creeds and colours get on. Barnet has the largest Jewish Community in the UK. How do they feel - here's a quote from a rather prominent Jewish commentator :-

due to the worrying rise in anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism in England, many Jews no longer feel safe

You may be relieved to know that the author of this comment doesn't live in Barnet. You'd probably be less relieved to know that he used to. In fact, up until May, he was a Councillor in Barnet. The author of this comment is ex Tory Barnet Councillor Richard F Weider. If people such as him, someone who was in a position to do something about it don't feel safe, what on earth is going on. There are many elderly and vulnerable Jewish People in Sheltered accomodation. The Jewish Chronicle has reported that they feel exposed to risk by the proposal to get rid of wardens. Barnet Council didn't even bother to do a proper risk assessment for this decision. They haven't considered the safety of those they have a duty of care to. No wonder people such as Richard Weider have no wish to grow old in Barnet. If Barnet's Jewish community decide to follow the lead of one of their most high profile local politicians and leave en mass, what will this do to the price of Barnet property.

I'm not writing this blog to scaremonger or try and force property prices down. I'm writing it to try and shake the citizens of London's finest Borough out of their torpor. All of the above issues could be combatted by an honest, brave and well lead council. If they were a bit more concerned with proper long term planning and a bit less concerned with getting free hospitality and huge allowances, maybe I'd not have to write this sort of blog.

If they don't get up off their rotund posteriors and start sorting these problems out, we may well find that Richard Weider was the most sensible of the lot of them and the rest of us are left in a ghetto of negative equity. Unlike some people, I'm not prepared to sit back and say nothing, if they want to ruin my town and destroy the value of my house, they'll have a fight on their hands.