JK Howling
- Oct 9, 2021
- 6 min read

READ THE ROOM, BARNET COUNCIL (PLANNING APPLICATION 2)

Updated: Oct 15, 2021

PLANNING APPLICATION 2 ... HENDON LIBRARY & BUILDING 9

EVICTED!

One of the main reasons given during the many Hendon Hub/SPD consultations for moving our PUBLIC LIBRARY from its beautiful, majestic home into a new one (situated on the ground floor of a five-storey accommodation block unaffectionately known as The Salad Spinner) was that passers-by will be able to recognise that it's a library because of the GLASS frontage which they're unable to do now because the frontage is made of BRICKS.

Seriously. I kid you not.

"Ooh,what could this strange building possibly be?". Asked no-one who lived in Hendon ever. On account of the fact it's been the library for 100 years.

And there's a big sign outside that says 'Hendon Library'.

EVERYBODY knows Hendon Library.

It's been standing on The Burroughs for almost 100 years old.

It is the "flagship library of Barnet" in the "civic centre of Barnet".

It is the symbol of the local community.

And - I do not use this word lightly - it is unquestionably ICONIC. It's ours. It's in our hearts, as was demonstrated by the number of people who signed the recent petition to save it. https://chng.it/5FVptwjLcZ

I've yet to meet a person who grew up around here who doesn't have a story or memory associated with it. It's the last civic building the public have access to after our Church Farmhouse Museum and its contents were flogged. (Oh wait, during consultations we were suddenly informed that we do in fact have access to one room inside the Church Farmhouse with the capacity for 8 delegates. So why did Middlesex University and Barnet Council mysteriously forget to tell residents about this at any point in the past 5 years?).

HENDON LIBRARY is the last place where one can get any sense of civic pride in a borough that is increasingly feeling like a Monopoly Board on which Barnet Council/Capita are looking to monetize every molecule.

You may roll your eyes at the notion of "civic pride", I used to think it was a load of old balls, but I've re-assessed my views on this post-Covid.

A COMMUNITY SPACE IN A POST-COVID WORLD

What does a post-Covid world look like?

It's early days but already significant social changes are evident. The CIPD report 40% of UK employers expect half their workforce to work regularly from home. Many are actively job-seeking. That's a heck of a lot more people who are going to be in Hendon during the day. A decent-sized community space is much needed.

And do you believe community and family life have become more important to people since Covid?

I know it has to many of my friends and family. And don't take my word for it. Just look at the active community groups that have sprung up around here over the past few months - SAFER HENDON - a fantastic local group started by locals determined to make the Vivian Avenue area safe and vibrant again. There's the HENDON COMMUNITY group, set up to help neighbours during lockdown and still thriving and active with 1000 members. There are the community exercise classes and Meet Ups springing up in Hendon Park and Sunny Hill Park etc. People are reaching out to each other.

If Barnet Council were serious about genuinely serving both the community and Middlesex University equally, the Hendon Library building should be returned to the people so it can be used, not just as a library and community hub for Hendon but for all of Barnet.

But this notion could not be further from their plans ...

THE SLOW DEATH OF HENDON LIBRARY

About 20 years ago, Hendon library was extensively refurbished - “for the 21st century”.

In a successful 2007 pitch to modernise Kensington Central Library, this refurb was cited as the gold standard because it had generated a 40% increase in Hendon Library’s use and the building “inspired, excited and delighted its users and supported a sense of civic pride”.

However, in the following ten years, Hendon library services were cut. And cut. Another refurb in 2017 saw 1600 sq m of our library given away, leaving us with just 200 sq m of oppressive hutches, with restricted public access.

Like other libraries in the borough, Hendon Library has been dismantled and neutered. The wonderful Children's Library - gone. The Music Library - gone. Getting in there now is like getting into Fort Knox. And who'd want to? The interior has been butchered.

And the final death blow? Soon it is to become the home of Middlesex University Business School.

And the public library is to be moved to (in the words of Cllr Dan Thomas) a new "state of the art" building.

"STATE-OF-THE-ART"

Would you like to see the new "state of the art" Hendon Library building? It will blow your mind. In fact, you'll wonder why on earth we've been complaining when we are being offered such a prize ...

...

Are you ready ...

This is the new "state-of-the-art" Hendon Library (it's the bit inside the red oblong).

"Cllr Thomas, with this new library you are really spoiling us".

Said no-one who lived in Hendon ever.

The new Hendon Library will be an awkward-shaped 675 sqm under a 5 storey residential block, sharing floor area with the Safer Neighbourhood Team, bike storage, plant machinery and the refuse area for the flats.

PREPOSTEROUS! If ONLY 675 sqm were needed to provide a state-of-the-art library, this space could easily be provided in the existing Library building, considering all the work listed in the documents to turn the public library into the Uni Business School.

The community is being severely shortchanged here!

At consultations we were told that inside this "state-of-the-art" library there would be comfy seating, computers, a Makerspace, a children's section and study areas. And that these couldn't POSSIBLY be provided in the current building.

Then, after consultations, it was decided to also squeeze in the police SNT so space from the library has to be sacrificed!

The archives are meant to be moved here too.

Will there even be room for any books and toilets?!

To quote our MP, Dr Matthew Offord: “I share the dismay… at the entire loss of the historic Library building and am unclear … why the space could not be updated … to accommodate everything being proposed for a new library.”.

We couldn't agree more, Dr Offord.

MIDDLESEX UNIVERSITY BUSINESS SCHOOL

Who can blame Middlesex University for wanting such a prestigious building so close to their main campus?

Further down on the page you will find spanking new Middlesex University Business School floorplans showing what it will look like after the demolition of Old Clinic (Building 9) and stripping the Hendon Public Library of the 1970s infill. The whole interior plus part of existing roof are to be remodelled - which puts heritage elements at risk.

LOOK AT ALL THAT FLOOR AREA ON 4 FLOORS (in grey in pictures below) and yet, NOT AN INCH could be spared to keep our library where it belongs! DON'T WORRY...THERE ARE 34 UNISEX SUPERLOOS AND 7 WHEELCHAIR ACCESS TOILETS IN THIS MASSIVE BARNACLE STUCK TO THE LIBRARY AND THE TOWN HALL ANNEXE. Perhaps those are the 'public access facilities' the community will get in return for giving our library to MDX.

A free place to pee.

Residents were looking to their Conservative-led council to conserve and be innovative. They were in a position to repair some of the battering our lives have recently taken from the pandemic.

We implored them to use that power for good: to enhance – not destroy - the sense of place, learning, history, civic pride and social unity here in Hendon, to reconsider giving away the last of our civic "crown jewels" and to ensure that residents continue to be an EQUAL partner with the university, not a footnote in Hendon.

Barnet Council didn't hear us.

They took our library away.

And we want it back.