Members of the Youth Parliament and Barnet’s Youth Ambassadors unveiled plans to promote good mental health and equality as one of a number of initiatives presented to Barnet Council’s Children Education & Safeguarding Committee yesterday (17 November).

The Youth Parliamentarians and Ambassadors set out their vision for their term following consultation with Barnet’s young people.

The four elected Members and their campaigns are:

Barnet Council has committed to giving residents and community groups a greater say in designing its adult social care services, after councillors voted last night (14 November) for the Engagement & Co-Production Strategy and Charter for Adult Social Care.

Barnet has been recognised as a community that is committed to becoming ‘dementia-friendly’ by the Alzheimer’s Society, which will help over 5,000 residents living with dementia in the borough.

A ‘Dementia Friendly Community’ is a place that creates an environment where people living with dementia will be confident that they can contribute to community life.

Barnet Council has launched its Warm Spaces scheme and is appealing to local organisations and businesses that have free space to sign up to the borough-wide initiative and help people stay warm through winter.

Libraries across the borough are already welcoming residents, and the scheme aims to create spaces people can use and visit wherever they are in the borough.

Community groups and teams from Barnet Council were joined by the Worshipful Mayor of Barnet, Cllr Alison Moore, on Thursday 3 November to officially open Barnet Memorial Woodland to the public.

Barnet Council is pleased to announce that following last year’s award of a further £3.5m in grant funding, work has begun on the next phase of electric vehicle (EV) charge point installations.

The six-month installation, in partnership with Trojan Energy, will see 510 charge points installed to 34 residential streets across the borough.

Councillors last night (31 October) committed to do more to listen to residents and involve them in designing council services and addressing issues that affect them. 

The council will put communities at the heart of everything it does, reach out and involve people who are less often heard to address inequalities better, highlighting the good work already underway and the key changes that will be made.

Barnet-based community groups can apply for a grant from the £240,000 Community Innovation Fund (CIF) from 31 October, to help fund projects that tackle food poverty and the cost-of-living crisis.

The fund, now in its third round of applications is particularly interested in seeing applications benefiting communities with poorer health outcomes.

Barnet Council has been recognised for its commitment and continued support to the Armed Forces and has received a Defence Employers Recognition Scheme Silver Award.

Barnet Council’s Armed Forces Champions Angela Richardson and Councillor Lachhya Gurung collected the award on behalf of the council at an awards ceremony at the Royal Automobile Club in Pall Mall on 18 October 2022. The award was presented by His Majesty’s Lord Lieutenant, Sir Ken Olisa OBE.

Barnet Council has opened the first of its Community Safety Hubs as part of a range of new measures to help tackle crime and anti-social behaviour in the borough of Barnet.