Do join us for a couple of hours on Saturday, 9th October 2021 to help tidy the estate and to make it more pleasant for everyone.
We will meet up at 10:15 am at 105 Cheviot Gardens, ready for a 10:30 start, and will aim to finish at around 12:30 pm.
The weather forecast looks good!
Litter pickers, waste bags and our own Golders Green Estate hi-vis jackets will all be provided. Please wear sturdy shoes or boots. We have a limited supply of gloves – please bring your own if possible.
Children are more than welcome to join in, if supervised.
If you haven’t done so already, do please let us know if you intend to come so that we will have an idea of numbers.
The online consultation has now ended and the planning outcome is pending. However, comments can still be emailed to planning.consultation@barnet.gov.uk and will be accepted up until the time that the decision is made.
Do take note of these upcoming workshops at Clitterhouse Farm. Email garden@clitterhouse.com for tickets.
Wildflower Seedball Making Support the bees with native wildflowers 25th September 2021, 2nd October 2021 11 am – 12 pm. Adults £6 / children £3
Introduction to Knitting Knit your own hat or headband 16th October 2021, 23rd October 2021 1:30 – 3 pm. Tickets £15
Introduction to Watercolour Painting Find inspiration in the farm garden 9th October 2021, 16th October 2021, 30th October 2021 11 am – 12:30 pm. Adults £10 / children £5
Children’s Creative Storytelling – online Use your imagination and create your own interactive story 2nd October 2021, 9th October 2021, 16th October 2021 12:30 – 1:15 pm. Tickets £8
Illustration Workshops Animal Drawing, 25th September 2021 1 – 3 pm. Adults £15, children £10 Drawing Insects on Crockery, 14th October 2021 6 – 7:30 pm. Adults £12, children £8 Christmas Cards, 4th November 2021 6 – 7:30 pm. Adults £12, children £8
The Royal Horticultural Society has an ambitious target to become net positive for nature and people.
It has just launched its Planet-Friendly Gardening Campaign which includes ten easy gardening tasks that will make a real difference to the environment and biodiversity. Tasks include growing fruit, vegetables and flowers, switching to rainwater and pulling up a paving slab or two to make room for some bee-loving perennials.
Please follow this link for more details about how you can help make a difference in your garden.
Did you know that 3.2 million households in England suffer from fuel poverty? And it’s set to get a lot worse: only a few weeks ago Ofgem raised the energy price cap. If we are to hit our 2050 carbon emissions target we will have to pay for it somehow. Our energy bills will rise and more and more of us will be struggling to pay for them. So it seems like a choice between “going green” and “going broke”. But is it?
Imagine this:
Local properties and business are fitted with solar panels which are owned by a local co-operative “of the people”.
This power “by the people” is sold to energy companies.
The profit is used “for the people” so that the co-operative can invest in more sustainable energy projects.
I know this sounds simplistic and very “pie in the sky” – but it’s not. It has been implemented for years in many areas of Europe, Scotland and England. There are quite a few of these projects in London. And some communities are saving up to 20% of in energy bills.
I am very keen to set this up for our community. I think we have everything it takes: young people with energy, drive and enthusiasm (I am myself 16 years old and have just completed my GCSEs) and older people with the experience that can give us the guidance. It is important that we all take positive action together.
For those who are interested, this website provides us with everything we need to know in order to set up and run such a project. I have already been in touch with the relevant people in “repowering” and they are very willing to help.
Let’s work together to empower and repower a new GGERA.
Please contact us if you would like to follow this up.
September is the time when the fruit trees on the estate start to ripen. What to do if you have a tree overloaded with fruit?
The Cricklewood food harvesters are a small group of volunteers that will harvest the fruit from the trees and distribute the produce to local schools, community projects and kitchens to prevent the fruit from going to waste.
Usually we use a telescopic tool with a hook to shake the tree and then catch the fruit when it falls into a tarpaulin.
Our local police have asked residents to take a few minutes to complete a survey for Golders Green. This is to help them better understand the current issues in our area and to coordinate resources.
“The 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. The emerging plan will replace the existing 2012 Local Plan and will provide the main basis upon which future planning applications will be determined.”
You’ve probably already seen that Montreaux have made a last-minute amendment to their plans, cutting the height of the tallest block to 19 storeys, leaving tower blocks 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 and now again 19 storeys high – still more than twice the height of anything else in Cricklewood. This reduced the proposal by just 50 residential units, cutting it to 1050 units. They may have hoped this would make it more acceptable to the planning committee on 13 July 2021, but now there’s a new consultation and it can’t go to committee until September.
NorthWestTwo Residents Association, the Railway Terraces Residents Association and many, many others remain thoroughly opposed to this application. It’s still overwhelming, overbearing and out of keeping, too dense, and too much of a burden on local amenities, while its purported benefits crumble on examination.
Initial consultation was undertaken in October 2018, with letters being sent to 780 addresses. Following revisions to the scheme, an additional consultation was undertaken in June 2019. In total 480 objections were received, although only 81 of these objections were received in relation to the revised scheme.
You may be very tired of this and feel you’ve said so much already! Even so, it could be very worthwhile to go to Barnet’s planning portal again and simply say you still object. The new deadline is 16th July.
You may also have thought of more to say, in which case do add it and go into as much detail as you want! As the website itself says “If your comment is over 2000 characters please submit another online comment, begin the comment with ‘Continued’.” Lots of us have done that. But most of all, do make sure your previous objection isn’t dismissed or discounted – say it still stands!
The developers have not provided a new picture but it will look roughly like this. The top of the 25-storey block has been reduced by just 6 storeys.
