The service, commissioned jointly by the five North Central London Boroughs and run by the charity Rethink Mental Illness, will offer support to anyone in those five boroughs who has been affected by suicide. This includes anyone who has experienced suicidal thoughts either now or in the past, their family, friends and carers and anyone who has been bereaved by suicide.

Councillor Cohen, Chairman of the Environment Committee, said: “We would like to thank our front-line and operational staff for their hard work and commitment during these unprecedented times, which has allowed us to return to weekly collections so rapidly whilst also ensuring weekly black refuse bin collections continue. We would also like to thank all those residents and their children who left pictures and messages of support on their bins, which were greatly appreciated.”

Over the weekend, work has continued at the Essential Supplies Hub. By Monday evening 471 packages had been sent out to residents with a further 135 parcels going to Homeless Action Barnet, 354 meals to Barnet Hospital and 42 meals to North Middlesex University Hospital. 21 large food bank deliveries were also made.

If you're out in a park, please follow the government’s guidance on social distancing and stay at least two metres apart from each other.

Libraries

All libraries in the borough will be closed from 10am on Saturday 21 March until further notice. We apologise for any inconvenience, but the safety of our staff and customers is our priority.

We have extended the loan time on all the books and CDs you have borrowed for six weeks and removed all fines. Any fines due on DVDs from this time will be waived when they are returned.

Stop Smoking London designed the award-winning “Amazing Things Happen” campaign based on insight with London smokers, which discovered many Londoners are tired of hearing about the harm smoking does - they want to hear more about the benefits of quitting. Their research also underlined the strong social element to smoking, with three quarters of smokers interviewed saying that smoking is “normal amongst me and my friends”.

Council Tax will be raised to cover increasing demand for services as government funding decreases. It will be raised by 1.99% and the Adult Social Care Precept of 2% will be applied during the next financial year, from April 1 2020. The increase – totalling 3.99% – is equivalent to £48.87 extra per year for an average Band D property.

Since its launch in 2015, BOOST has helped more than 850 Barnet residents find employment.

BOOST teams are based in Burnt Oak Library, Watling Avenue, HA8 0UB (0208 3595600); and in a shop at 184 Cricklewood Lane, Childs Hill, NW2 2DX (0208 3597200). They can be reached from 9am-5pm, Monday to Friday.

BOOST teams can help residents:

The council’s Draft Long-Term Transport Strategy 2020-2041 outlines proposals to support population growth through a safe, reliable and convenient travel network that improves air quality and public health.

Councillor Dean Cohen, Chair of the Barnet Council Environment Committee, said: “A charge for garden waste collections will help us retain weekly recycling and refuse collections, whilst also investing in services such as street cleansing.”

Residents will shortly receive a leaflet explaining how to sign up and pay for their yearly subscription for the garden waste service, which will be for approximately 23 collections a year.