College Farm Finchley reopening: funding deal, 3 hurdles

College Farm in Finchley has a funding partner for the first time since it shut to the public in 2001. The charity that owns it, College Farm Trust, has agreed a partnership with the Jeremy Coller Foundation aimed at refurbishing the Grade II listed farm buildings and reopening the site.

The deal was announced by the trust in a statement issued on 23 July. It is the most concrete step towards reopening in a quarter of a century. It is not a reopening date, and the public record shows three things still standing in the way.

What has actually been agreed

The trust’s statement is careful in its wording. The foundation has agreed to the “potential provision of funding”, subject to “the appropriate regulatory and planning consents”. No sum is given, and no timetable beyond “in due course”.

The structural change is bigger than the money. At an extraordinary general meeting on 6 June 2026, the trust’s members voted to adopt new articles under which the Jeremy Coller Foundation became the trust’s sole member. The trust says it will remain an independent registered charity with the same objectives and its own board.

The statement also confirms:

• the site has been closed to the public for over 25 years
• the buildings are in a poor state and in many cases contain asbestos
• the cost of refurbishing and rebuilding the listed farm buildings is “likely to be very substantial”
• Chris and Jane Ower, the tenant farmers for almost 50 years, support the plan

Hurdle one: the Charity Commission inquiry is still open

The Charity Commission opened a statutory inquiry into College Farm Trust on 5 August 2024. The regulator’s announcement says the inquiry examines:

• whether the trustees complied with their legal duties
• the governance and management of the charity
• whether there was any unauthorised trustee benefit
• risks to the charity’s property
• whether there was misconduct or mismanagement

The Commission stresses that opening an inquiry is not a finding of wrongdoing.

On 19 December 2024 the Commission appointed two interim managers, Frances Coulson and Robert Paterson of Wedlake Bell LLP. Their job was to secure the charity’s property, recruit members and call a general meeting to elect trustees.

That process produced the current board. The charity register lists six trustees, all appointed on 12 May 2025: Alan Jacobs (chair), Michael Crick, Michael Freer, Philip Tansey, Brian Kalms and Jonathan Del Monte. Mr Freer was MP for Finchley and Golders Green until 2024. Mr Crick chairs the Finchley Society.

The register still carries a regulatory alert stating that the inquiry is open. The trust’s own statement says the inquiry “into historical matters” will be completed in due course. Until it closes, the regulator’s consent is one of the “regulatory consents” the funding depends on.

Hurdle two: nothing has been filed with the planners

Barnet Council’s planning register shows no live application for College Farm. A search of the register on 27 August found the most recent decision on the farm itself was a 2015 consent for two sign boards (ref 15/04509/ADV). Every other recent result for Fitzalan Road is a house extension.

Any refurbishment will need listed building consent for the Grade II buildings. The site is also a conservation area in its own right. The council’s conservation area page describes it as “entirely rural in character”, on the west side of Regents Park Road between Fitzalan Road and Allandale Avenue. The page gives the area as “approximately 1.5 acres (3.8 hectares)”. Those two figures do not match; 3.8 hectares is about 9.4 acres.

Applications, when they come, will appear on our Barnet planning applications page.

Hurdle three: the money, and the state of the buildings

Historic England added the College Farm conservation area to its Heritage at Risk Register on 30 September 2025. The register entry records its condition as “Poor”, its vulnerability as “Medium” and its trend as “Deteriorating”. It counts four listed buildings within the area.

The trust’s own resources are small. Its latest return to the Charity Commission, for the year to 28 February 2025, shows income of £10,562 and expenditure of £0. The trust has owned the farm since 2006.

The Jeremy Coller Foundation is registered charity 1163970. Its stated focus is the consequences of intensive animal agriculture and the transition to a more sustainable food system. Jeremy Coller, its chair, said in the trust’s statement that he has “very fond memories of visiting College Farm in my youth”. Alan Jacobs, the trust’s chair, said the board’s plan is “focussed on educating young people about the history and future of farming”.

What the farm is

College Farm sits at 45 Fitzalan Road, N3 3PG. The trust’s statement describes it as “London’s leading model dairy farm” in its day. Before 2001 it held regular open days that drew thousands of visitors. The Waylamps of Barnet trail map, published this month, records that it was established in 1868 by George Barham, founder of Express Dairies. The company’s creamery methods were taught there, hence the name.

What it means for you

• Nothing is reopening yet. There is no date, no confirmed budget and no planning application.
• The first public signal of progress will be a listed building consent or planning application on the council’s register. We will report it when it appears.
• The Charity Commission inquiry will end with a published report. That report, not the funding announcement, will settle what happened at the trust before 2024.
• The farm’s animals remain in the care of the Owers, as they have been for almost 50 years.

Barnet Live asked no one to comment for this article; every fact is drawn from the trust’s statement and the public registers linked above.