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The Individual Placement and Support (IPS) programme is funded by Barnet Council and delivered by London charity, Twining Enterprise, in partnership with Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust (BEH) teams.  Barnet IPS joins just one other Centre of Excellence in the capital and 14 in the whole country. The Centre for Excellence status means Barnet partners can share its learning with other areas of England. 

The Cleaner Air Borough accreditation, awarded to boroughs which effectively monitor and reduce air pollution, is part of the Mayor of London’s Local Air Quality Management (LLAQM) framework. Managed by the environmental health team in Re*, the framework is used by local authorities to review and improve air quality within their areas, designed to specifically meet London’s needs. The accreditation relates only to the performance of the borough in terms of working to address local pollution.

The Re contract delivers a wide range of services including highways, planning, regeneration, environmental health, trading standards and the Hendon Cemetery and Crematorium. The financial benefit over the 10-year contract term means that the cost of services to the taxpayer has been reduced from £45million to £6million. This means that these services now cost £600,000 annually, rather than £4.5million each year, before the contract was signed.

The three year programme which is now in its second year aims to get 14 to 19-year-olds involved in sport and physical activity in Burnt Oak and Colindale. The launch of the Summer programme follows a successful Spring term for the SHAPE team which saw a significant increase in attendance numbers and the launch of several new sessions including street dance, basketball and football sessions.

For the past decade, the site of Moreton Close was a sheltered housing scheme whose residents have now moved on to new homes. Now the social landlord has planning permission to build 53 self-contained one and two bedroom apartments. The aim of Extra Care Housing is to support adults with additional care needs to live independently. One of the key benefits of extra care is that couples, where one partner has increasing care needs, are able to stay living together.

The 10-year contract, which will commence on 1 January 2018, will include the management and operation of five Barnet leisure facilities, including two new leisure centre developments at Barnet Copthall and Victoria Recreation Ground in New Barnet. The decision follows an extensive review of leisure services, which seek to improve the health and wellbeing of all Barnet residents.

The funding was unanimously agreed by the council’s Housing Committee on Thursday 21 June, and will now go to the council’s Policy and Resources Committee for approval. The funds are part of the council’s ongoing response to the Grenfell Tower fire, and will provide for the installation of sprinkler systems for blocks of flats with 10 or more floors and a single stairwell. The £12.5m agreed by the committee is in addition to £17.5m agreed by the committee last year. This brings the total earmarked for fire safety works to £30m.

The event, which took place at Allianz Park, home of Saracens rugby club, saw all of the borough’s children in care invited to the fun packed half-term event on Friday 17 February. In total around 120 children attended the celebrations along with all their carers and support workers. Children came in fancy dress as their favourite characters, enjoyed party food, a bouncy castle, milkshake bar, children’s entertainer and party bags.

The SBWA has been an important part of the local community over the last 20 years, providing advice, information and support for the Somali Bravanese community, including refugees and asylum seekers, living in Barnet. The group’s previous home at Coppetts Road was destroyed in June 2014 and the SBWA has been operating out of Barnet House, Whetstone, since then.

To launch the Barnet Together campaign, Councillor Richard Cornelius, Leader of Barnet Council, joined the Good Neighbours’ Scheme in Burnt Oak. The Barnet Together campaign highlights the fantastic voluntary work that residents are doing to help make Barnet a great place – from recycling their household rubbish to cooking meals for neighbours who need a bit of help – and showcases other new and exciting opportunities for everyone to get involved no matter how much time they have.