Britain's first 'eruv' enclave for Jews divides local opinion

The White House is in one. So are Bondi Beach, the European Court of Human Rights and the Grand Canal in Venice. After a 10-year row, involving the height of telegraph poles and religious tolerance, one of the leafier corners of north London is to join this illustrious list.

Next week planners are expected to put the finishing touches to Britain's first Jewish "eruv" – a boundary within which Orthodox Jews can do basic tasks otherwise forbidden by the Sabbath.

Contractors are expected to start work by the end of the summer to place 84 posts, measuring up to 30ft and linked by 330ft of fine wire, which will form part of the border with roads and houses to create an area covering six and a half square miles of the London borough of Barnet.

The 11-mile perimeter, mostly defined by existing structures including the A1, will encompass some of the capital's most select postcodes, including Hampstead Garden Suburb, home among others to the Sultan of Brunei, Lulu and Richard and Judy.

The erection of the wooden posts, slimmed down telegraph poles, will see the area join every town in Israel and 200 other cities worldwide with an eruv, including Washington DC, Sydney, Strasbourg, Johannesburg and Antwerp.

The aim, according to its supporters, is to make life considerably easier for the 10,000 observant Jews who live within the north London eruv. Under Jewish religious law they are forbidden to carry an item outside the home on the Sabbath. Activities from holding your house keys to pushing a pram or wheelchair in a "Reshus Ha Rabim" or public place are banned, leaving many elderly Jews and young families housebound on Saturdays.

A spokesman for the United Synagogue Eruv Committee (USEC), which is behind the scheme, said: "The eruv effectively gives the area it covers the same status for a religious Jew as his or her home so they can carry out these activities. It will make a significant difference to their lives."

Far from being a passport to hedonism, the eruv, an idea that has existed since biblical times, does not negate the Sabbath's more demanding strictures, such as a ban on driving, cooking or the use of electricity.

Although planning permission for the poles was granted by Barnet council four years ago, all is not peace and goodwill within the sedate avenues of the garden suburb and the adjacent area of Golders Green, London's most highly populated Jewish area. Opponents to the eruv fought an impassioned campaign against the enclave after it was proposed in 1992, complaining that it threatened to upset the balance of a multicultural area. Many of the objectors are secular Jews.

Elizabeth Lawrence, spokes-woman for the Barnet Eruv Objectors Group, said: "By putting up these posts, a small number of people are marking out a private domain. That is something that is very offensive.

"It is particularly unsuitable given the current climate in the Middle East. This is a very mixed and harmonious area; we want it to stay that way."

The campaigners, and a second organisation, The Eruv Boundary Opponents Group, claimed the poles could obscure windows and damage trees where the eruv crosses Hampstead Heath, and that the 0.3 millimetre wire could pose a risk to birds.

They also warn of the effects on property prices, with houses outside the boundary becoming less desirable than those within it. One estate agent confirmed that the words "within eruv'' on a sales description would bring advantages. Robert Kramer, of Glentree International, said: "It would increase saleability if the eruv led to a rise in demand from religious people."

The USEC, which had the backing of the Chief Rabbi, Dr Jonathan Sacks, dismissed the claims of the detractors, saying fears of anti-Semitism were ungrounded. The spokesman said: "It is a symbol of a multicultural, democratic Britain and of tolerance and respect by catering for the needs of religious people."

Barnet council confirmed that it is expected to finalise details, such as the type of paint to be used on the poles, "within days'. Contractors have already been seen marking pavements, apparently to indicate the position of the poles.

Such is the excitement, that one resident has also been moved to verse: "When you're in eruv, it's eruviest day of the year, wires twinkle above, and the poles you can see far and near, pushchairs roll along, and rain hats are donned without fear."