Sustainability Strategy engagement

Have your say on how we address sustainability across Barnet and help shape our strategy for the borough

We want to involve a wide range of residents and communities in the development of this important strategy - even if you have no experience of sustainability, climate change, our environmental policies, or have little interest about this topic, we welcome your input.

Background

The council is producing a Sustainability Strategy for Barnet and wants to involve residents and communities in its development. The strategy will set out how we will deliver ambitious targets of being net zero as a council by 2030, and net zero as a borough as soon as possible after that – but by 2050.

It is important that we all work together on producing this strategy and look at what we need to prioritise to help protect the environment, so that our future generations can enjoy the same quality of life as we have. Working together will enable us to have shared goals and ambitions, and shared actions that we will all need to take to help protect our environment in the future.

To help develop our strategy, a Sustainability Strategy Framework has been produced. This lays out the groundwork for our new Sustainability Strategy, and was unanimously approved by Policy & Resources Committee on 9 December 2021. For an overview of the commitments set out within this framework please read our summary document.

How to get involved - attend one of our workshops

We need your input as we now begin to develop the borough’s Sustainability Strategy. We wish to involve residents, young people (aged 11+), businesses, local community and interest groups, and our partners in a series of workshops and group discussions. These will take place between 14 March and 24 March 2022.

The workshops will be an opportunity for you to tell us your ideas and comments on sustainability and reducing our carbon footprint. We will cover a range of topics linked to sustainability and climate change as well as the key themes within the strategy.

To help ensure impartiality, the council has commissioned Applied Negative Emissions Centre, an independent social research company focused on sustainability, to run these events on our behalf.

As an appreciation of your time and participation we are also offering those who attend a resident or business workshop a £50 online shopping voucher for a face-to-face event, and a £40 online shopping voucher a virtual online event.

How to register for a workshop

We have now closed the registration for residents but we are still recruiting to our community group workshop which will take place place on Thursday 24 March. Please take the time to register your interest by completing the Applied Negative Emissions Centre's registration form. Registration will be open for Community Groups until 22 March 2022.

If you would like to request a paper registration form or another format please:

• email cara.elkins@barnet.gov.uk
• alternatively you can write to us at Environment Services, London Borough of Barnet, 2 Bristol Avenue, Colindale, NW9 4EW.

If you would like someone to help you complete the registration form or need more information, please contact us using one of the above methods.

Young people aged 11 - 17 years old

If you are aged between 11 and 17 years old and want to get involved in our young person’s workshop, please do not complete the registration form above but instead ask your parent, carer or guardian to complete the Applied Negative Emissions Centre's young persons workshop consent form. Once they have completed the consent form your parent, carer or guardian can then pass to you to complete some further questions.

As an appreciation of your time and participation we are also offering young people who attend the victual online meetings a £40 online shopping voucher.

The form should be retuned to engagement@negativeemissionscentre.co.uk by 22 March 2022.

How will ANEC use the information you submit in the registration form or the young person's consent form 

The Applied Negative Emissions Centre (ANEC) will use the information submitted through the registration form or the young persons consent form to ensure that a cross section of our communities are represented at the workshops. In particular, they will ensure there is:

• a mix of residents (including young people) from the different areas of Barnet and a range of other demographics
• a range of businesses, community groups, interest groups and partners
• a range of stakeholders with different levels of experience, interest and knowledge on sustainability and climate change.

If you get allocated a place, ANEC will contact you the week of 28 February 2022 and provide you with further details of the workshops.

If we are oversubscribed for the workshops and you don’t get a place on this occasion, ANEC, with your permission, will share your details with the council who will keep your details on file and aim to ensure you are invited to future events.

What happens after the engagement closes

The council will use the engagement findings to inform our draft Sustainability Strategy which will go to committee in the summer.