London Borough of Barnet

In other news, a High Court judge has thrown out House Builder Barclay Holmes' attempt to overturn an inspector's refusal of its 867-home shopping centre redevelopment in Peckham, South London, describing one of its grounds of challenge as an artificial and unduly narrow reading of national planning policy.

Next up, London's Deputy Mayor for Planning, Jules Pipe, has overturned the London Borough of Barnet's refusal of plans by developer Stoney Wood Property, for 463 homes, ruling that the benefits, including 212 affordable homes, outweighed conflicts with policies requiring a town centre first approach.

Elsewhere, the Housing Secretary, Angela Rayner, has issued a holding direction preventing the Greater Cambridge Shared Planning Service from granting final permission for a Christ's College Cambridge library building redevelopment, while ministers consider whether to determine the scheme themselves.

Meanwhile, an inspector has allowed proposals to build up to 250 homes on unallocated coastal farmland in East Sussex after finding that Wealdon District Council's flood risk concerns were based on a highly unlikely scenario and awarded the appellant partial costs over the authority's unreasonable behaviour.

Haringey Council has officially signed off £1.7 million of support for music education across five boroughs over two years after the government funding was first announced.

The money will be split between Haringey Music Service, Barnet Education Arts Trust, Camden Music, Enfield Music Service and Music Education Islington.

Haringey, which has been acting as hub lead for the Arts Council England programme since September 2024, will be responsible for administering the funds across the five boroughs through North London Music Hub.

Georgia Twigg, Cabinet Minister for Children and Schools at the local authority, approved receipt of the ACE funding at a Cabinet member signing last Friday the 16th.

In a report, the council said the money will go towards coordinating music education in the local area, tailored to the needs of children and young people across Haringey, Barnet, Camden, Enfield and Islington, including those within special educational needs and disabilities.

Working with over 400 schools across North London boroughs, the funding will help facilitate ongoing, high-quality music education, delivered through diverse partnerships between educational, creative and community organisations.

First created in 2012, there are now 43 music hubs across England, 38 of which cover multiple local authority areas, as defined by the Department for Education.

The collective total, just under £64,000 for the 26-27 academic year, is set to go to the management of North London Music Hub.

RNIB Low Vision Assessments.

RNIB's Low Vision Center in our office near King's Cross offers low vision assessments to people who live in the boroughs of Camden, Islington, Haringey, Barnet and Enfield.

Each assessment offers the following: vision assessment, assessing visual needs, prescription and loan of low vision aids, signposting to other services, advice and support.

Each assessment takes up to ninety minutes depending on patient needs.

The move comes amid review of council's priorities under minority Conservative administration but the decision has been criticised by the opposition Labour group.

The active travel scheme, first announced and consulted on last November, proposed using quieter residential streets and traffic-calming measures to guide people cycling or walking between New Southgate and Palmer's Green stations as well as Arnis Grove station.

The route was proposed to run along the boundary of the Fox Lane low-traffic neighbourhood, LTN, and provide a connection to the Barnet borough border via Arnis Park and also included small sections of segregated cycle lanes along busy roads such as Alderman's Hill, Wilmer Way and Bose Road plus a cycle path through Arnis Park.

However, in an announcement this week on the council's project page for the active travel route, the council issued an update and said, following a review of the council's priorities by the new administration, the proposed New Southgate station to Palmer's Green station walking and cycling project will not be taken forward.