NEWS

Don’t miss the next EEVRA N2 residents tidy up. Sunday 25 January at 10:00 - old clothes, brooms and bin bags are a must!

Are you interested in Hedgehogs? The British Hedgehog Preservation Society (BHPS) campaigns to raise awareness of the practical steps that can be taken to help reverse the decline of Hedgehogs in the wild and in cities, improve their welfare and safeguard the future of this much-loved animal. They fund research that provides important new insights into the conservation and welfare of Hedgehogs which are vulnerable to extinction in Britain due to habitat loss, development, roads and garden hazards. There are now thought to be fewer than one million hedgehogs left.
Hedgehogs have declined between 30-75% since 2000 in rural areas. However city dwelling hedgehogs appear to be recovering after a long period of decline and we can help by making our back garden accessible and traversible by creating a Hedgehog Highway; just making a 13cm x 13cm hole at ground level on both sides of your garden will enable Hedgehogs to search for safe places to create their nests, find food and mates. They can travel up to 2km per night and are slugs and snails worst enemy! The BHPS website has hints and tips how to create the Hedgehog Highway, what to feed them and how to build a Hedgehog feeding station. Talk to your neighbours and see where highways can be created. Let the BHPS know as they are mapping the routes across the country.

The Archer January 2026 No 381

Neighbours get together to form powerful voice

Community volunteers in one part of East Finchley have formed a new grassroots residents’ association to give locals a collective voice that works with Barnet Council to solve problems, enhance quality of life for all, improve public spaces and champion the area’s future. The East End Village Resident’s Association (EEVRA) is starting with a few pilot streets west of the Northern line tracks between Church Lane, Hamilton Road and East End Road but has ambitions to represent a much wider area by the end of 2026.

Joint Chairs Nikki Austen and James Masters said the aim of the association was to turn “chat into change” and neighbourlyness into real opportunity.

“There’s no shortage of brilliant clubs, project and events in East Finchley, yet there hasnt been an active, formal resident’s association for quite some time. EEVRA aims to fill the gap” they said. “What began as a few small Whatsapp groups during lock down has grown into a strong neighbourhood network, keeping residents informed, connected, and ready to help each other.”

They said the network proved its worth last year when plans were put forward by Places for Barnet, a partnership between Barnet Council and developer the Kuropatwa Group, to build private housing on a green space and car park in Manor Park Road, in the heart of the EEVRA area.

Nikki and James said: “The community responded. Questions were raised about how public land, used daily by locals, could be earmarked for development, particularly after planning inspectors had already judged the sites allocation “not justified” and removed it from the Local Plan.”

“A parallel challenge was supported at Park House on the High Road, the site of Monkey Puzzle Nursery. Out of this moment came a consensus: the neighbourhood needed a formal body to coordinate, communicate and ensure its voice was heard. Creating something more formal seemed the natural next step.” As we reported last month, Places for Barnet have put both the Manor Park Road and Park House developments on hold in response to the level of local feedback they received to their plans.

EEVRA’s first project in 2026 is to form Friends of Manor Park, a community effort to care for the open space while the Council decides its future. A detailed 60 page proposal is already with Councillor and Officers, with a meeting due imminently.

The Association is finalising its Constitution, forming a Committee, and preparing for an inaugural meeting this month, where residents will be invited to join, share ideas and vote in the Committee. Residents can get in touch at: hello@eevra.org.uk

The group has taken its name from the East End Village area marked on historical maps from the 1800s after Finchely Common was divided into parcels including: East End, Hog Market (now Market Place) and Dirt House (now Cherry Tree Wood). The extension of the Northern Line in 1939 separated East End from what most call the Old Village. Their mascot is Eevie the Elephant, inspired by the famous Lord George Sanger’s circus, which wintered in the area at Park Farm. In its heyday in the late 1890s and early 1900s, giraffs, bears, big cats and elephants could be seen parading up East End Road.

The much anticipated EEVRA prize draw took place 18 December 2025. Thank you for your support and helping EEVRA to raise much needed funds. Please contribute using our GoFundMe EEVRA page.