MP's home among newly protected historic buildings (From Times Series)

Hendon MP's home among historic buildings offered extended protection by Barnet Council

5:44pm Tuesday 22nd January 2013 in News By Chris Hewett

Several Victorian properties in Hendon, including the constituency MP’s house, will be protected from development under new preservation rules.

Barnet Council has updated character appraisals in two of its six conservation areas - Church End and The Burroughs.

Included in the guidelines are plans to preserve eight homes in Burroughs Gardens and 14 more in The Burroughs – including the constituency home of Hendon MP Matthew Offord.

The newly approved protection means building work that would usually be exempt from planning consent, for example small extensions, would have to be approved by the council.

The Greyhound pub, built in 1898, and the Model Farm House, dating back to the mid-1900s, will both be locally listed under the newly approved papers.

The local listing does not completely protect the Church End buildings from development but planning committees will take the status into account on future applications.  

Character appraisals for both conservation areas aim to provide a general understanding of their history and provide a framework for what should be preserved.

Conservative politician Matthew Offord said: “There is a huge amount of history there and myself and my neighbours are very keen that it is preserved.

“Some of the homes date back to something like the 1890s and they are the same now as they were then. We want to make sure it remains like that as far as it possibly can.

“I met with my neighbours over the summer to talk about it and this is something we all wanted – it is good news.”