Highgate Society looks at High Street challenge in 2024

We’ve hosted many fascinating talks and guided walks, with more to look forward to next year.

There have been social events and coffee mornings for all throughout the year. We’ve also held several Sunday lunchtime concerts in our hall, as well as our unique Music in Highgate Homes concerts. Carols in Pond Square - a flagship event - raised £2,450 for our two local charities, North London Hospice and Jackson’s Lane, for its Christmas lunch for residents who would otherwise be on their own.

The carol concert in Pond Square raised £2,450 for charity (Image: Highgate Society)

Guerrilla gardening has grown with enthusiastic new members and now forms a third leg of our community projects alongside Tidy Up events and defibrillators, which we look after in the Highgate area.

There are always challenges and it is hardest to gain influence and achieve results when we rely on several local authorities to make and implement decisions. Extraordinarily, the ancient settlement of Highgate is split between Haringey, Camden and Islington boroughs, and it can seem that we are a remote corner for all three.

William Britain looks to the challenges in 2024 (Image: The Highgate Society)

Next year, we will need to tackle these challenges with our ambition to improve Highgate High Street, bring the old bus stand into permanent productive use, improve road safety in Highgate Hill and reduce degradation by traffic.

Camden’s Dartmouth Park healthy neighbourhood scheme (misleadingly named because it covers Highgate as well as Dartmouth Park) is an opportunity to better manage traffic but also a challenge because we will have to fight hard to stop more traffic being diverted onto Highgate High Street or pushed across the border into the Haringey parts of Highgate.

These topics and others feature on the new campaign pages of our website: Highgatesociety.com.

The year has seen progress on planning, with our open public meeting chaired by Catherine West MP, causing Highgate School to recognise the need for further local community engagement about their ambitious plans. A series of workshops will now take place in early 2024.

While there are challenges, it is so encouraging that in Highgate we have such an engaged community. The society’s own membership continues to grow, and we have many new members wanting to volunteer and lead change to benefit the whole Highgate community.

Wishing all our members the very best for 2024 and to everyone in wider Highgate

• William Britain is chair of The Highgate Society.