West Hendon Playing Fields now has two tennis courts, a 3x3 basketball court and a bigger playground. A pitch and cafe could follow if funding is found.

West Hendon Playing Fields has two new tennis courts, a 3x3 basketball court and a bigger children’s playground. They are the first part of the council’s plan to transform the park. (Barnet Council)

The council announced the finished facilities on 5 September.

What is new

The playground has been expanded and now has:

  • a climbing frame and monkey bars
  • a seesaw and a roundabout
  • several slides and different types of swing
  • three benches
  • two large picnic tables that take a wheelchair

The two tennis courts and the 3x3 basketball court sit beside it, as the council’s aerial photo above shows.

What comes next

Phase one is not finished yet. The council says it still plans to:

  • improve the park entrance
  • fix footway drainage
  • build a footway and cycleway link to Cool Oak Lane

It has not given dates for these.

Phase two would add an all-weather synthetic sports pitch and a kiosk-style cafe. The council says it will look for extra outside funding for that stage, so it is not yet paid for.

Cllr Alan Schneiderman, the Cabinet Member for Environment and Climate Change, said the council was drawing on “new and innovative sources of funding” to keep investing in parks “despite the financial challenges the council faces”. The release does not say which funds paid for phase one.

The other parks on the list

West Hendon is one of several park projects in the west of the borough. According to the council:

Park What is happening
Rushgrove Park, Colindale New sports courts, work due to start this winter
Heybourne Park, Grahame Park New children’s playground, plans being drawn up
Silkstream Park Transformation completed
Montrose Playing Fields Transformation completed
Colindale Park Transformation completed

What it means for you

  • The courts and playground are open now. Cllr Schneiderman says he has seen “loads of people” using them.
  • The Cool Oak Lane link is the one to watch if you walk or cycle in from that side. No start date has been published.
  • The pitch and cafe are an ambition, not a plan with money. They depend on the council winning external funding.

Heybourne Park is on the Grahame Park estate, where 449 new homes are planned in the first phase of Grahame Park North East. For planning applications near you, see our Barnet planning applications guide.