Showing posts with label The Thursday local News Roundup. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Thursday local News Roundup. Show all posts

Thursday, 27 February 2020

Local News Round Up - 27/2/2020

Thursday is the day that we round up the local news. Here is our pick of the local stories.

 Barnet Council

Barnet Council think you are throwing too many spuds away and are here to help.  As is our tradition, we are offering a free pot noodle for the best recipe for cooking potatoes. We have a wicked recipe for Patatas Bravas when we have friends around for a Tapas evening!


Here is the location and date/time


 School Borough Workshop date Workshop time

Christ Church Primary School, Byng Road, Barnet EN5 4NS		 Barnet Monday 9 March 15:45-16:45
Rhyl Primary School, Rhyl St, Kentish Town, London NW5 3HB Camden Tuesday 5 March 09:00-10:00
St Anne’s Secondary School* 6 Oakthorpe Road, Palmers Green, London, N13 5TY Enfield Monday 23 March 16:00-17:00
Orchard Primary School, Holcroft Road, London, E9 7BB Hackney Tuesday 24 March 15:45-16:45
North Haringey Primary School, Falkland Rd, Haringey, London N8 0NU Haringey Thursday 26 March 15:45-16:45
Thornhill Primary, Thornhill Rd, Barnsbury, London N1 1HX Islington Thursday 12 March 15.30-16:30
Buxton Primary School, 234 Cann Hall Rd, Leytonstone, London E11 3NN Waltham Forest Wednesday 18 March 15:30-16:30

Recipes

Do you need some inspiration to save your forgotten spuds and combat food waste? We have a delicious selection of potato-based recipes to share with you.
Also check out the North London Food Lovers Cookbook, which offers many ideas for you to make the most of your leftovers! The Food Lovers Cookbook can be downloaded for FREE.

You also need to be aware of the changes to Green Bin Collection.


Other News


Ever fancied presenting a radio show? Here's your chance


Massive development scheme in Burnt Oak unveiled


Public Consultation on East Barnet Gasworks site



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Thursday, 20 February 2020

Thursday Local News Round Up - 20/2/2020

Thursday is our local news day at the Barnet Eye, where we bring you a round up of local community news.

 Edgware.

As regular readers will know, the Barnet Council local plan is out for consultation. The community facing the biggest change is Edgware, with over 5,000 new dwellings. A public consultation meeting has been organised. We urge all local residents to attend

Click for a readable version

Sadly there has been no action from the council with regards to securing and renovating the Railway Hotel.



Cricklewood

Just across the Borough border in Brent we have the Matalan site planning application
Deadline for comments is today, 20 February 2020 on planning application to replace the Matalan building with residential blocks up to 9 storeys high.
https://www.northwesttwo.org.uk/matalan-site-planning-appl…/

We will also be seeing tree removal by Network Rail


Health centre to close


Finchley

There is an upcoming talk on female filmmaking


Saracens

The BBC reports that @BarnetCouncil have frozen the loan to Saracens


Mill Hill

Many thanks to the Mill Hill Residents association for the info. We suggest all Mill Hill Residents follow their Twitter - https://www.facebook.com/groups/MillHillResidentsAssociation/

Noise disruption from Thameslink

PLANNED ENGINEERING WORKS Be aware that tonight Thameslink is planning engineering works. Find out how this might affect you: https://t.co/7iHFTDiAGw?amp=1
Local Plan
SAVE THE DATE:
BARNET'S NEW LOCAL PLAN EXPLAINEDWhen: Monday 24th Feb @ 7pm.
Where: LBB Offices, 2 Bristol Ave, Colindale NW9 4EW

The new Local Plan sets out a vision for how Barnet will change as a place over the next 15 years and forms a strategy which emphasises the borough’s attractiveness as a place to live, work and visit.

 Together with the Langley Park Residents' Association, the Mill Hill Residents' Association has arranged for the Planning Policy Team to explain this plan to our residents.

This is a public meeting and everyone is invited.

If you are planning on attending, please send an email to chair@millhilllresidents.org.uk

Let us know if you have any news items. Tab us in on Twitter or Facebook
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Thursday, 16 January 2020

Why local blogs are necessary to keep an eye on the council in Barnet

Thursday is the day we do our local news round up. Today I am using the opportunity to talk about our local blog scene.

If you are viewing this blog on the web version. rather than the mobile version, you will see some quite interesting information in the right hand side bar. The first is that you will see that the most read blog in the last 30 days is the blog we published on Tuesday detailing plans for a power station on a green belt site in Mill Hill. This blog has had thousands of views and as a result over 35 people have objected to the proposals, which means that the plans must go before the planning committee rather than simply being rubber stamped by planning officers employed by Capita. That means that local people will have a chance to have their say and hold the council to account. When I first found the proposal on Sunday, there were zero objections and none of the neighbours were even aware of the proposal.

You will also see a link to some articles by some of our favourite bloggers. I would draw your attention to the blog by Mr Reasonable, which details the overdevelopment of the Borough, which is one of the driving forces for the new power station. If you build more flats, more energy is needed. John Dix has spent the last ten years holding the council to account and doing his very best to ensure that there is a degree of scrutiny, which sadly is lacking from our local councillors. One of the best examples of John's work is his recent blog detailing how spending on Agency staffing is out of control in Barnet.

Another active blogger who regularly holds Barnet Council to account is Mr Mustard, AKA Derek Dishman. Derek specialises in parking issues. His recent blog about enforcement of pavement parking in Pullen Road, in Barnet is fascinating. It shows how the council is enforcing parking policies in and unfair and discriminatory fashion, designed to make money but not address the real problems. Derek has helped hundreds of local residents with appeals against parking fines and has an over 90% success rate in getting people their money back. All he asks for in return, is that if the appeal is successful a donation is made to a local charity.

A big ally in this process is the local Facebook pages for the various areas around Barnet. Perhaps the largest of these is the I'm a Borough of Barnet Bod, that has over 9,000 followers. There are some other great sites, such as Inside Mill Hill, Mill Hill Families, Colindale Voice  and Cricklewood is Brilliant. These kindly allow postings of items of local interest that means a far wider audience is reached.

There is still a local paper. The Barnet Times is still published and can be picked up at local libraries and there is also a dispenser in Station Road Mill Hill, by the entrance to the Bus station. It also publishes on line, but sadly is a shadow of its former self, without the resources to provide in depth coverage of the Borough. It is now entirely funded by advertising, much of which is from large national companies and property developers.

The only way that we, as residents of the London Borough of Barnet, will maintain the good things in our Borough and ensure that rich and greedy vested interests, who have deep pockets and PR departments are kept at bay is to work together to make our voices heard. Some local organisations are happy to take large amounts of cash from developers, in return for favourable coverage and positive spin. They generally do not publicise the fact that these large amounts of cash play a big factor in the editorial stance. The Barnet Eye fully accepts that in a Capitalist society, bloggers and tweeters should be able to profit from their actions, but this should be transparent, honest and open. The Barnet Eye uses the Google adwords platform to generate income. This is used to subsidise local businesses, mostly the Mill Hill Tandoori, where I take Mrs T out for the odd slap up meal with the proceeds as a thank you for putting up with me when I write these blogs. For the record, the Adwords payment is usually somewhere between £60-£200 per year and just about covers my broadband. costs. The actual ads you see are not selected by me, but generated by the Google application.

I would caution everyone to be wary of people who are not open and transparent about cash they receive in return for online content. The Barnet Eye has never published 'paid for' content. That is not what local blogs are about. We believe that micro sites such as this are all about local information. You may or may not agree with how I describe myself in my Twitter profile, but at least it is honest and you know who I am and what I stand for- A Guardian Top London Blogger guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/feb/15… Harmless old duffer, who writes blogs for therapy! Things Barnet, music, football, the False Dots


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Thursday, 24 October 2019

The Thursday Local News Roundup -24/10/2019 - Local Fireworks displays & other news

A lot of people have been asking about local organised firework displays, so I thought we'd do a special.

Saracens - Mill Hill





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 Moss Hall School - Finchley



North London Collegiate School - Edgware

Mill Hill School


And if you are attending the display at Saracens on Friday 2nd, why not adjourn to the Adam and Eve afterwards, for a night of music and fun!


Other news


There has been much talk about the Mayor of London's ULEZ zone. It is worth noting that this has lead to a huge decrease in air pollution, which any sensible person would welcome. (courtesy Barnet Times)


Want to get fit? Why not try Rugby training



And we finish with some good news!

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Thursday, 17 October 2019

The Thursday Local News Roundup 17/10/2019

It's Thursday, so it's the local news roundup. Sadly some of it is rather upsetting

Cat mutilator on the loose

BARNET EN5 2 – 12TH & 14TH OCTOBER
On Saturday 12th October the decapitated body of a much loved cat was found. The cat had been missing since Monday 7th October but looked freshly placed.
On Monday 14th October a head belonging to the cat was found placed at another location nearby.
A veterinary examination has confirmed that the injuries were inflicted by a person using a bladed instrument. (Source Inside Mill Hill)


The Barnet Eye asks everyone to keep an eye out. We need to catch this maniac


Huge Mill Hill Flytip on the news again

Last week it was ITV news, this week we had the BBC filming the UK's largest flytip, with a member of the Mill Hill Litterpickers telling the story. Apparently TFL are clearing their part of the mess. We hope that the site is properly secured to ensure that it stays clear.



Support your local grassroots Rugby club

If you like Rugby, then why not make sure you enjoy it with Mill Hill's local club



Library Consultation

Barnet Council are holding a consultation about the library service (not that this really exists in many parts of the Borough, in the truest sense of a public library). I urge everyone to participate



Lib Dems take the Lead in Finchley and Golders Green seat

A recent opinion poll in the Finchley and Golders Green seat reports that the Lib Dems have taken a convincing lead in the polls, following the adoption of Luciana Berger as candidate. Labour's vote has clearly suffered following the decision of candidate Sara Conway to step down. I suspect that this will be a fascinating seat to watch in the forthcoming general election.


Local Comedy

If you are a Ricky Gervais fan, here's your chance to see him locally. I think he is referring to the Arts Depot in Finchley


Local Rabbi arrested

Local Rabbi Jeffrey Newman was arrested earlier in the week during Extinction Rebellion protests. One has to say that whatever your view of the protest, the sight of a 77 year old Rabbi being carried off by the police is not good.



Mill Hill Music Complex celebrates 40 years of music in Mill Hill

A date for your diary. Mill Hill Music Complex studios are celebrating 40 years of music in Mill Hill with a celebratory gig, all for free, at the Adam and Eve pub. Please come along.



And we always love to finish with something inspiring and positive locally. Check out this amazing video of the Mill Hill Rugby Club mixed ability Rugby Team



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Thursday, 10 October 2019

The Thursday Local News Roundup - 10/10/2019

Every Thursday, the Barnet Eye takes a look at the local news stories that have caught our eye. Here's our pick.

Huge Mill Hill Flytip in the news

If you caught ITV London news last night, then you'd have seen the appalling story of the UK's largest flytip at the back of Pentavia retail park. This is a huge, rotting, fly and rat infested pile of rubbish, some of which contains asbestos and other dangerous items. The land is owned by TFL and the Highways agency. We believe that they should make every effort to identify the source and prosecute anyone who uses illegal flytippers. That is the only way to stop this



Hadley FC out of the FA cup

A great run in the FA Cup came to an end for Hadley FC on Saturday. They lost 3-0 away at Havant  and Waterlooville, a team several rungs higher in the league structure. The team had amazing support from the travelling fans. If you missed out on the fun, why not join us on the terraces on Saturday!


Marsh Drive residents update

The residents of Marsh Drive, the last block standing on the West Hendon estate are suffering appalling conditions as the building has been allowed to deteriorate. Whilst most reasonable people would be appalled, the leader of Barnet Council, Daniel Thomas has told them that this is all perfectly satisfactory. We disagree.


Stop School Cuts nursery campaign update

The Stop School cuts campaign have started a petition to oppose cuts to nursery services in Barnet. We urge you to take a look and support this.

Celebration of 40 years of Mill Hill Music Complex

Mill Hill Music Complex, Londons leading independent music studio complex is 40 years old this year. They cordially invite you to the Adam and Eve pub on Friday 1st November for an evening of music and fun, and it's all free.


Live Mass on Youtube from Mill Hill

If you are a Roman Catholic in Mill Hill, or know someone who would like to attend mass, but cannot, the Sacred Heart Church now have a live feed every Sunday on Youtube, If there are any other churches or other religious institutions locally broadcasting services, please let us know.


You can subscribe here - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnyqKXeNtMwnwOjoLjkTjDg



Let us know if you have a story for next week's selection.

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Thursday, 3 October 2019

The Thursday local news round up - 03/10/2019

Due to travel arrangements (I had to make a dash to Yorkshire and back), this weeks collection is a tad shorter than I'd planned but there are some tasty nuggets to get your teeth into.

Hadley FC win again.
Our local team, Hadley FC are on a roll. Through to the third qualifying round of the FA cup and flying high in the league, they had an impressive.

I was there to capture some of the action!


Councillor Jesse Brayne has joined the Lib Dems
Underhill Councillor Jessica Brayne, having quit the Labour party joined the Lib Dems earlier this week. Word reaches the Barnet Eye that she will not be the last local politician to defect. Sadly I am sworn to secrecy. Watch this space.

This Tweet explains her reasons for quitting the Labour Party earlier this year
This means that the Lib Dems are now officially a group within Barnet Council. .


Work on the step free access at Mill Hill East progressing.

The lift tower at Mill Hill East Station has been installed. This is great news for all residents, who find the stairs difficult.
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Thursday, 26 September 2019

The Thursday Local News Roundup - Hadley FC, Luciana Berger for Finchley and an Apology from Barnet Council

Flowers at the Mill Hill Village Green Earlier this year
Welcome to a new regular feature. Many people have spoken to me recently saying that they like the regular features I run. Environment Monday, The Wednesday Poem, The Friday Joke, The Saturday List and the Sunday Tweets of the week. They know to check the blog on particular days when things of interest to them are published. A criticism of late has been the lack of local news. Since the demise of the local papers, with no one getting local news through the door (the Barnet Times is still online and can be collected at the libraries), there is not a great central source of local news. So Thursday will be our local news roundup. Here are a few stories that have caught our eye.

Hadley FC through to third qualifying round of the FA Cup

Our local football team, Hadley FC have made it through to the third round of The FA cup qualifying competition. They face a trip to Portsmouth to play Havant and Waterloovile.

This is an amazing achievement for a team in the Essex Senior League. Hadley FC play in Brickfield Lane, the road opposite The Gate Pub. Hadley beat Bedmond FC 3-0 to get through.

Lucian Berger to stand as Lib Dem candidate for Finchley and Golders Green.

 Many people in the Borough will have been appalled by the treatment of Luciana Berger and fully understood the difficult decision she had to take to quit the Labour Party. She s wiidely recognised as an excellent MP and a decent human being. Following her decision to leave Labour, she decided to join the Lib Dems and locally we are delighted that she has been adopted as the candidate for the party in the forthcoming election in Finchley and Golders Green. This will offer the people of the constituency a real choice. Sadly, many members of the community, who have previously not wanted to vote Tory have felt politically homeless. Now they have a candidate who gives them a real choice, is principled and they can trust to represent the whole community.

Councillor Gabriel Rosenberg defects to the Lib Dems.
Gabriel Rosenberg has long been recognised as one of the most decent and thoughtful councillors in the Conservative group in Barnet Council. The antics of Boris Johnson have pushed Gabriel to the point where he has felt that he could no longer remain in the party. He has joined the Lib Dems. Gabreil explains why in this tweet.


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Barnet Council issue apology to the Barnet Eye for wholly inadequate FoI Response

The Barnet Eye has received an apology for a wholly inadequate response to a  Freedom of Information request concerning the Mill Hill Neighbourhood Forum. The Barnet Eye complained to Barnet Council and an internal review has concluded that the initial response was wholly inadequate.

The Barnet Eye had sought to establish how much taxpayers money had been spent by the council on the now wound up Mill Hill Neighbourhood forum. Sadly, the council have now admitted that their accounting systems do not log time of council contractors on such matters. It is simply 'part of the bill'. We believe that this lack of oversight of what Capita are spending their time doing explains many of the problems we are having with the company. We have now established that the council gave the forum a grant of £750. The council has not sought copies of the forum accounts to establish whether this was properly spent. Whilst the council is not legally required to, we believe in transparency and felt it would be better for all concerned if the council had received and published MHNF accounts. We see no reason fro secrecy. Here is the council response.

Request for review
For Q 1 Barnet Council have referenced a document that does not provide the information was requested. The specific reason for the request was because the document referred to did not contain the required information.For Q2 Barnet Council have stated that they are not required to financially support production of Neighbourhood Development Plans which is misleading and not what was asked. Please read the question properly and provide a response to what was asked. Barnet Council should confirm whether they provided a grant, yes or no, and if yes, how much;For Q3 Barnet Council have again provided a misleading answer saying they not required to oversee any accounts which is not what was asked. Barnet Council should confirm whether they received any accounts from MHNF, yes or no, and if yes, provide the copies. Please ensure that before responding you read the request properly
I have undertaken the internal review and the outcome of my review is set out below.

Response
I have taken each issue you raise in turn.

For Q 1 Barnet Council have referenced a document that does not provide the information was requested. The specific reason for the request was because the document referred to did not contain the required information.
I concurr that the document provided was unhelpful and that the rest of the response was ambiguous to the extent of not answering the query. The original response stated that "To date the primary cost to the Council associated with the MHNP application has been officer support time. This has been absorbed by Re and thus contained within
existing budgets."

The use of the word "primary" here is misleading, as this would suggest that there are additional costs that are not mentioned, with officer support time being the foremost. I have established in my discussions with the service that this is essentially mistaken, and that officer time was the only cost. As stated, the officer time spent was provided by Re staff under the existing contract, so no additional cost was incurred by the council itself. The relevant officer time has not been quantified, in any case, so it would not be possible to establish a figure for the costs incurred by Re.

For Q2 Barnet Council have stated that they are not required to financially support production of Neighbourhood Development Plans which is misleading and not what was asked. Please read the question properly and provide a response to what was asked. Barnet Council should confirm whether they provided a grant, yes or no, and if yes, how much;  
I concurr with your request for review of this point. The reponse provided attempts to answer a simple query with a non-sequitur that does not begin to address it.

I have contacted the relevant officer and have ascetained that in January 2017, MHNF was awarded a one-off grant of £750 from the corporate grants programme to defray the cost of space in its publication, 'A Guide to Mill Hill', dedicated to council-related messaging. This is the forum's one and only corporate grant.

For Q3 Barnet Council have again provided a misleading answer saying they not required to oversee any accounts which is not what was asked. Barnet Council should confirm whether they received any accounts from MHNF, yes or no, and if yes, provide the copies. Please ensure that before responding you read the request properly
Again, I concurr with your request for review. Whether or not the council is required to oversee accounts has no impact either way on whether copies of accounts are held. Not all information held by the council is due to a requirement, statutory or otherwise.

I have contacted the relevant service and have confirmed that no such accounts are held.

In conclusion, the initial response to your request was wholly inadequate, with responses that did not address the questions asked. I apologise on behalf of the concil for this failure in upholding the standards we hope to set with our FOI responses.

I hope this review has managed to clarify the issues and provide the answers you originally sought.
As you can see the council has admitted it's failure.

Thameslink offer for the Troy "Myth and reality" exhibition at the British Museum.

If you travel by Thameslink, there is an amazing 2 for 1 offer to get into the Troy Myth and Reality exhibition. Click this link for details. This will be an amazing exhibition and runs from 21st November to 8th March. It is just around the corner from St Pancras, easily accessible via Thameslink.

Mill Hill Rugby Club looking for new members

Fancy getting fit and meeting new friends? Why not try out the training at Mill Hill
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