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Camden New Journal - by DAN CARRIER
Published: 16 August 2007

Plans to fence Highgate Pond slammed

FENCING in Highgate’s Pond Square to stop young people using it as an after school meeting place would rip the heart out of the village, according to the Highgate Society.
Plans were mooted by Highgate’s Safer Neighbourhoods police team and a handful residents living around the picturesque Georgian square to install fences and gates in order to cut down the number of people hanging out there in the evenings and after pub closing time.
The Highgate Society’s Brendan Nolan said he would not back any scheme that changed the current access to the square. He said: “It was a piece of unorthodox thinking by a few Pond Square residents. The society strongly disagrees with such a plan.”
He added that the Society felt the square would be best improved by removing the current 271 bus stand and extending the route up to East Finchley. He added: “This would allow us to extend the pavement and entrance to square, connecting it to the High Street. It would also improve links to Finchley.”
Square resident John Browning, a member of the residents association and architect whose practice overlooks the square, said he would rather see the space be left as it is.
He said: “It is a wonderful area, a real oasis. It is used by lots of different people. Sometimes there is a little nuisance in the evenings, but putting railings in would be a real shame.”
He added that he did not want to see a pond re-installed, which had been considered by the Highgate Society’s Pond square working group.

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