Christmas Market in the Old Bus Stand
It was lovely to see the centre of the village so buzzy on a cold day at the beginning of December. In spite of the bitterly cold weather, we demonstrated that a small market in the Old Bus Stand would add to the commercial life of the village.
Tidy-up programme for 2024 published
The Highgate Society Community Projects Group has published its programme of Tidy-up events for 2024. These monthly litter-picking events take place on Saturday mornings and last an hour. Volunteers welcome. For details click More.
Carols in Pond Square a great success
Carols in Pond Square this year was a great success , thanks to the hard work of over 25 Highgate Society volunteers. The rain cleared up just in time and our two chosen charities, North London Hospice and Jacksons Lane for their Christmas Day Lunch, raised over £2,200.15 December 2023
Calling all guerrillas
The Community Projects group has been taking on “guerrilla gardening” challenges in public spaces around Highgate for several years. The photo shows the newly planted cattle trough in Church Road which is a great example of what they can do. For more information click More.
Highgate School planning application workshops
The Society has been working with the School to take forward plans for workshops to consider the Schools planning applications. These are now likely to take place in the New Year and we hope facilitated by the Prince’s Foundation. Click More for details.
Saving our trees
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Insurers are prone to claim that trees close to buildings are a risk and on that basis to refuse or limit cover. Where there are no good reasons we deplore the loss of trees in our urban environment. The Highgate Society has been successful in persuading Haringey to refuse an application to fell a mature […]
Townsend Yard emergency access update
Our campaign on Townsend Yard has made some progress. Last month we reported that we saw a passageway beginning to take shape to provide emergency fire access to 36A Highgate High Street. It was a small win, but a win nevertheless.
The developer has belatedly submitted a planning application for the changes involved in constructing this passageway. We are now campaigning to make sure that as a minimum there is access to that passageway for emergency use by the resident of 36A as well as by the fire brigade. For details click More
Archway Campus – Plan B details awaited
Readers will recall the plans for the Archway Campus site at the bottom of Highgate Hill, which included a 32 storey tower. The developer Seven Capital responded to comments and objections by reducing slightly the height of the tower to 28 storeys. However, interestingly there is now a second alternative for the site which does not include the tower.
Highgate School plans: what next?
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Six weeks ago, we were facing a planning process with huge momentum and would very likely by now be putting dates in our diaries for the planning committee meetings to consider the applications. Instead thanks to the public meeting we now have a clearly expressed view from the Highgate community asking the School to think […]
Highgate School plans: public meeting report
The public meeting about Highgate School’s planning applications was a great success. Catherine West was an excellent chair, and we had a very good turnout, estimated at nearly 250 people including online. For full details click More
Highgate School planning applications – read this first
Planning applications have now been submitted to Haringey Council for the School’s 10-year building programme which involves four main sites: Dyne House and the Science Block in the village; and Richards Music Centre and Mallinson Centre in Bishopswood Road. There would if approved by the Council be a near doubling in size of the total […]
Highgate School applications: Dyne House and Science Block
The works proposed to Dyne House are probably the most extensive of the building works. Located in the centre of the village they are certainly the most disruptive. The existing building has few admirers but the refurbishment in our view does nothing to improve it and is a missed opportunity.
Highgate School applications: Hampstead Lane sites
We think this building is damaging to the Conservation Area. The existing building has the traditional appearance of a sports pavilion which is well suited to its location. Indeed, in its semi-rural setting, its appearance fits perfectly with the wider area and it is demonstrably a positive contributor to this part of the Conservation Area. The proposed replacement building, by contrast, with its acres of glazing and very long low-pitched roofs, resembles nothing so much as a car showroom on an industrial estate or a main road – to which its design is more suited than a Conservation Area.
Archway Campus (Holborn Union site)
The Highgate Society is providing support to the Better Archway Forum to work for a community friendly development on the Archway Campus site (also known as the Holborn Union site). We think there should be little or no high rise building, a sustainable development, no student housing but good levels of social and affordable housing.
Grant awarded for Highgate Roman kiln restoration
The most complete Roman pottery kiln found in Greater London will be put on public display for the first time, thanks to a £243,550 grant by The National Lottery Heritage Fund to charity Friends of Highgate Roman Kiln. In the 1960s and ‘70s, archaeologists excavated the kiln from Highgate Wood in Haringey, which is managed […]
Bus Stand ideas
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Now that TfL has implemented the bus route changes, there is an empty space in the middle of the village, and we thought it would be useful to share some ideas from 2007. Hopefully more ideas will be suggested. Perhaps you have an idea? Contact us if you do, ideally with a link to a […]
UATG awarded ACV status
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We are delighted to be able to announce that the Society’s application for the Upstairs at the Gatehouse Theatre to be made as Asset of Community Value has been accepted.
This means that, for the next five years at least, the use of Upstairs at the Gatehouse as a performance space is protected – and we hope it will continue to thrive in that period and long after it.
