The grand opening for the centre on Sunday 23 June, which had a ‘Greatest Showman’ theme, offered everyone in the Barnet community the opportunity to see what is on offer.

As with all OnSide Youth Zones, the £6.5million facility has an incredible range of facilities including a four-court Sports Hall, gym, 3G all-weather pitch, music room with recording suite, training kitchen, dance studio, health and well-being room, arts and crafts area and much more. 

Together, we are Barnet will highlight some of our many groups, sports teams and local projects, as well as individuals, who contribute so much to our community.

This week we're focusing on Anthony Dawodu, founder of cycling charity, Wheelio, which helps to bring together people of all ages to socialise on two wheels.

A further 40 will be installed later in the year in the second phase of the project this autumn. An additional 30 stand-alone electric vehicle charging points will be added to car parks in the borough throughout the year. There will be 22 outside of the two new state-of-the-art leisure centres being built in Victoria Recreation Ground, New Barnet, and Barnet Copthall, Mill Hill.

Councillor Dan Thomas said: “It is hard to think that two years have passed since we first witnessed those shocking scenes at Grenfell Tower.

From sports in the four-court Sports Hall, Fitness Suite, Boxing room and on the rooftop 3G pitch to music, arts, employability and enterprise workshops, a giant climbing wall, a mentoring kitchen, hot meals for £1 and much more, young people will pay just £5 per year to be a member and 50p each time they visit.

Barnet Council will host an all-day awareness-raising event to mark Diabetes Week in Brent Cross Shopping Centre from 9am to 8pm on Tuesday 11 June. At last year’s event, 23 people were shown to have Type 2 diabetes, while a further 20 discovered they were pre-diabetic and at significant risk of developing the condition. The figure accounts for nearly half of the shoppers tested during the day. Not one of them were aware of the condition they were facing or the potential health risks.

The report, which will be presented to Policy and Resource Committee on Monday 17 June, recommends to members that the Skills, Employment and Economic Development team from within the Regeneration service and the Safety, Health & Wellbeing services return to be delivered by the council.   The report also recommends reviewing the future contractual arrangements with Capita for those staff involved in the management and governance of the Brent Cr

The results will be available via the Election Results page on the council website.

Councillor Thomas is taking over the leadership of the council from Councillor Richard Cornelius. Councillor Thomas has been Deputy Leader since 2011, as well as Chairman of the Assets, Regeneration and Growth Committee, and is a ward councillor for Finchley Church End.

Councillor David Longstaff will serve as Deputy Leader to Councillor Thomas. Councillor Richard Cornelius will become Chair of the Assets, Regeneration and Growth Committee.

During her mayoral year Councillor Stock’s husband, Dr Richard Stock, will be the Mayor’s Consort and Councillor Lachhya Bahadur Gurung will be Deputy Mayor.

Councillor Stock takes over the chains of office from the borough’s previous Mayor, Councillor Reuben Thompstone for whom she also served as Deputy Mayor.

Born and raised in Barnet, Councillor Stock was first elected to Barnet Council in 2014 as ward member for Totteridge.