Barnet Council announces today that the borough’s first LGBTQ+ celebration Pride in the Park will launch later this year.

The event at Victoria Park, Finchley, will be held on Sunday 20 August and is being coordinated by a partnership led by Barnet’s LGBTQ+ community group Inkluder CiC. The news comes as the council raises the Rainbow flag above Hendon Town Hall today to mark the start of LGBTQ+ Pride Month.

Barnet councillors have unanimously approved the council’s first ever dedicated Volunteering Strategy (2023-26) *.

The strategy sets out proposals for supporting the thousands of volunteers across the borough, while developing volunteering in Barnet over the next three years.

Barnet Council has worked with the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime to secure £1.46m in funding to expand a two-year programme to tackle violence against women and girls living in the borough to more boroughs across the capital.

This comes following the success of the council’s pioneering pilot scheme, and nine boroughs will now access this funding and begin rolling out their own programmes.

The website now includes a range of accessibility and language support tools aimed at helping residents who may have a disability, learning difficulty, visual impairment, or if they speak English as a second language.

Barnet councillors agreed to change the council’s constitution and formally move from a committee system of governance to a cabinet and scrutiny system at the Annual General Meeting last night, Tuesday 23 May.

The move is integral to the Council administration’s commitment to ensure decision-making is more transparent, efficient, and accountable. It is also part of a package of new constitutional measures to help increase public participation in local democracy.

Yesterday (Tuesday 23 May) marked a new milestone in the construction of London’s newest mainline station, as the external signs were installed. 

Brent Cross West station sits on the Midland Main Line between Cricklewood and Hendon, and will connect passengers to central London in as little as 12 minutes. Thameslink services are expected to be operational from autumn this year.

Councillor Nagus Narenthira has become the 58th Mayor of Barnet, after being officially sworn in during the Annual Council Meeting held on Tuesday 23 May at Hendon town Hall.

Councillor Narenthira takes over from the borough’s previous Mayor, Councillor Alison Moore.

The Council operates Leader and Cabinet 'executive arrangements'.  This means that the Cabinet (or Executive) is responsible for day-to-day decision making on most services such as education, highways, housing, leisure, libraries, parking, refuse collection, street cleansing and social services.

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