Hendon Town Hall
Cllr Barry Rawlings, Leader of Barnet Council thanks all those who have worked hard for the residents of Barnet in the past 12 months and looks forward to 2026 in his New Year message.
As I look back on year that is passed, I am thankful to all the people who make our borough what it is. Those who make the big and small differences to our lives.
The public servants who keep our streets safe and our neighbourhoods tidy. Those who care for our young people, or older residents and the more vulnerable members of our community.
Those who volunteer whether on a regular basis or as a one-off – from residents who run voluntary groups to someone who decided to get involved in making their local area a little bit greener.
I also particularly want to thank everyone who made their voices heard at the council this year.
When I became Leader of the Council, I was determined to strengthen engagement and community participation.
That has included new opportunities for residents to challenge us at council meetings, as well as to put their points across at Barnet Question Time, our community roundtables and at our Leader Listens events. Our My Say Matters agenda has supported young people to shape their services too.
We have heard about everything from supporting our high streets to delivering care, and I want to thank everyone who has added their voice and helped to inform our decision-making.
It has been a difficult year for many in our borough. In fact, it has been a difficult decade. This has been the era of the cost-of-living crisis.
In Barnet, we’re doing our bit to support residents who are struggling with financial issues with our Money Worries? campaign. So far, this has helped over 25,000 people identify more than £18 million of additional benefits eligibility, while our Money Advisor Network partnership is continuing to support people to get out of debt.
We are also on the way to securing 1,000 new homes for social rent by 2026 and will work for another 1,000 by 2030.
We have put a record £97 million into fixing our roads and pavements and are looking to cut utilities roadworks times by up to 20 per cent by charging for overruns.
We have revamped and expanded our CCTV network and by supporting the police, we are seeing falls in crimes like burglary and violent offences.
New powers are on the way to help us tackle too many gambling and vaping shops on our high street. Our community skips to tackle fly-tipping are more popular than ever, and we recently launched a crackdown on fly-tipping in four hotspot areas. This spring, we will be bringing in a separate food waste collection.
After years of austerity, government has announced meaningful increases in how much money it will give to Barnet.
This is still not enough to bridge the gap between the demands on the council and our resources. We will still have to make difficult decisions and ask for extra government support. But it is the beginning of the turning of the corner.
We can look to the new year in well-founded hope. Not that all our challenges will be overcome overnight, but we can see a clear path through to building an even better Barnet and achieving our vision of caring for people, our places and the planet.
I wish you and your family a happy New Year.