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Property buyers, Vivo, asked residents to rate their local area based on a number of factors, such as time spent socialising with their neighbours, the availability of community activities and how welcome they felt there. Barnet scored highly in the survey coming 2nd overall based on the categories.  The highest score was for giving back to the community: 90 per cent of people asked said they make an effort to buy locally and support independent businesses.

The Japanese Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Taro Aso, attended the celebration event to mark 80 years of partnership between the Japanese Residents Association and Hendon Cemetery as well as the Japanese Ambassador to Britain, Koji Tsuruoka, and the Chairman of the Japanese Association in the UK, Keisako Sanu.

This green initiative, starting in April 2017, will benefit approximately 1,500 current parking permit holders in the borough, who will not need to pay for their parking permits. In January 2015, the council introduced a new emissions based residents’ parking permit scheme, which charges motorists based on the carbon dioxide emissions (gCo2) their cars emit.

This year sees the introduction of a new nation-wide system for measuring students’ attainment. ‘Attainment 8’ measures the achievement of a pupil across eight qualifications including English and Mathematics. ‘Progress 8’ measures the progress pupils make from the end of primary school to the end of secondary school by comparing their results with the average of other pupils with the same prior attainment. Results so far show the average Attainment 8 score in Barnet is 55 points compared to the national average in 2015 of 48.4 points.

The winner of the first ever Entrepreneurial Barnet Competition, organised by Middlesex University, Barnet Council and Barnet and Southgate College, was announced last week. Rebecca Manning, Chief Executive of the Community Interest Company Happy to Be, was announced as the competition winner after a grand final pitch event on 8 March. 

Barnet Council will once again provide a Pesach waste and Chometz collection service before Passover. The dedicated refuse service will run along 300-plus pre-designated roads, and make it simple for residents who wish to dispose of their Pesach refuse and Chometz before the start of Passover. Residents who live on these designated roads can take advantage of this service by putting their Pesach waste into their black refuse bin or refuse sacks, and placing them on the boundary of their property by 6.30am on Thursday 21 April. 

The plans will see a transitional funding formula used for Barnet’s schools over the next two years to give schools more time to adjust budgets before the full implementation of a national funding formula in 2020/21. In 2018/19 the council has worked to develop funding arrangements which will see no school in Barnet receive less money per pupil than they did in 2017/18. The proposals were developed in consultation with Barnet’s Schools Forum, and were agreed by Barnet’s CELS committee when it met on 16 January.

A landlord has been fined over £3,000 for failing to have a licence for his House in Multiple Occupation (HMO). Manzoor Hussain, of Ferney Road, East Barnet, pleaded guilty at Willesden Magistrates’ Court on 22 March 2016 to failing without reasonable excuse to have a licence, and was fined £3,500, ordered to pay £2,446 in costs and pay a £120 victim surcharge. Since 2006, landlords of HMOs of three or more storeys with five or more tenants sharing amenities such as kitchens and bathrooms are required to hold a licence.

He takes over from the borough’s previous Mayor, Councillor David Longstaff. Councillor Salinger’s wife Kate, who is a former councillor for Coppetts Ward, will be his Mayoress. The Mayor has chosen Councillor Val Duschinsky, who represents Mill Hill Ward, to be his Deputy Mayor. The Worshipful the Mayor of Barnet, Councillor Brian Salinger, is in his 31st year as a councillor in Barnet, having represented Friern Barnet ward and, after boundary changes, Oakleigh ward.

The theme for this year’s Fostering Fortnight, which runs from 8 – 21 May, is ‘Proud to Foster’. There are close to 64,000 children who live in foster families across the UK. In Barnet, there are 118 foster carers who care for around 190 of the children and young people. The Fostering Network estimates that fostering services will need to recruit a further 5,900 foster families in England over the coming year, underlining the importance of encouraging more people to consider becoming a foster carer.