We asked, you said, we did

For more information on the consultation please click here.

We asked

We asked for your views on introducing floating car clubs in Barnet.

You said

We received 58 responses to the online questionnaire. Almost three-quarters of respondents (71%) were in support of the introduction of floating car clubs into the borough. The responses generally supported the outcomes proposed by floating car clubs, such as reducing car ownership, are likely to be achieved.

We did

All the responses were considered and the council will proceed with the introduction of floating car clubs in Barnet, which will take place over the summer of 2018. You can read more about the feedback from the consultation here.

For more information on the consultation please click here.

We asked

We asked you for your views on the proposed Barnet Waste Regulations, to gather views to shape the regulations and to understand whether residents, businesses and visitors supported the introduction of the regulations.

You said:

A total of 258 responses were received; 256 via the online questionnaire and 2 responses on paper copies of the questionnaire. Overall there was strong support for the implementation of the Waste Regulations – with 72% of respondents agreeing (strongly agree and tend to agree). Most responses were supportive of the aims of the Waste Regulations and there was support for there to be a strong focus for the Waste Regulations on businesses and residents taking responsibility for their recycling and waste. Views were more mixed on whether fines should be introduced for breaches to the regulations and therefore the report noted that the Council would implement a graduated approach to enforcement, meaning that any enforcement activity (including fines) is clearly communicated to residents / businesses prior to commencement and that communications, educating and a request to change behavior would be a key focus in residential areas. Additional views were also taken into consideration, for example the time banding was amended to make the collection times more accessible for some groups such as those with long commutes and the Waste Regulations were updated to include the exact locations which will be included within a time banding area.

We did:

We revised the Barnet Waste Regulations to take account of the responses we received to our consultation. The consultation analysis and updated Waste Regulations were considered by Full Council on 31^st October 2017 where Full Council approved the adoption and implementation of the Barnet Waste Regulations. http://barnet.moderngov.co.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=162&MId=9159&Ver=4

For more information on the consultation please click here.

We asked

We asked you for your views on the draft scheme and whether you felt that the criteria in the relief were correct.

You said:

Most responses were supportive recognising that there needed to be exclusions. There was some criticism that the Healthier catering Commitment requirement was prohibitive, and not in the spirit of the funding grant. The council was asked to commit to supporting small and micro businesses, and to distribute the funds as quickly as possible to alleviate any hardship. 14 comments related to the list of business types that are being supported, and whilst not on the exclusion list did not know how they would benefit – such as Sports clubs, pharmacies, dental, podiatry, education, healthcare, workshops for artisans; 7 comments were made which were statements relating to business rates generally (charities, liability, high cost, Brexit) and not subject to the consultation matter;

We did:

The responses received were used to amend the qualifying criteria, but the % awards remained unchanged. The list of properties included were removed, and only excluded categories were left in the scheme – this made it much clearer. A restriction to the number of properties, was changed from 3 or more to be changed to 4 or more. Where there are arrears outstanding, that this be simplified to ‘ratepayers who are in arrears and have not made an arrangement for payment with the council. Financial modelling the awards has resulted in some ratepayers receiving less than £2 per annum. It is proposed that where the award is less than £50 that the award be rounded up to £50. This added less than £3000 to the overall forecast award. Clarification of how any underspend will be allocated to businesses in revaluation hardship is also included.

That the condition of meeting the Healthier Catering Commitment, remains in the policy, but that we have softened the requirement such that the relevant establishments demonstrate that they are working towards the accreditation. The final scheme is published on the council’s website at https://www.barnet.gov.uk/citizen-home/business/business-rates/revaluation-support-scheme.html

We asked

We asked residents for their views on the Council’s Draft Air Quality Action Plan 2017-2022

You said

We received 73 responses to the consultation.

80% of respondents said that they felt poor air quality is an issue in Barnet to a great extent. The most common themes were concerns about air quality affecting heath, the sheer volume of traffic on Barnet’s roads, congestion, the lack of cycling infrastructure, and the general unpleasantness of walking due to traffic fumes.

Most respondents (over 85%) agreed with the air pollution sources that the action plan will focus on, and over 70% felt that the plan was easy to understand. With respects to the proposed actions to improve air quality, there was strong support, particularly for increased green barriers and trees, anti-idling projects and work with schools on travel planning. The action with most disagreement was introducing 20mph speed limits close to schools as a measure to improve air quality where 11% of respondents strongly disagreed.

We asked residents for their own suggestions and ideas on improving air quality. Many respondents said there were simply too many vehicles on the roads and that cycling, walking and public transport needs to be incentivised. Many respondents cited the extra traffic generated by increased housing being built in the Borough as a key concern. Idling vehicles, particularly outside schools was also a strong theme.

Ideas included segregated cycle routes for commuters and advanced stop lines for cyclists at junctions; better maintenance of walking paths; tackling the school run; banning bonfires entirely in residential areas; closing off local “rat-runs”; education campaign to move to cleaner more efficient boilers in the home; limiting the use of wood-burning stoves; educational campaigns to get people to reduce their reliance on the private car.

We did

All of the proposed actions will go forward to the new air quality action plan 2017-2022. We will focus more strongly on the actions promoting sustainable transport as a result of the consultation exercise. We will consider the other new ideas including actions around wood-burning stoves, bonfires, better cycling infrastructure and promotion of efficient boilers through the air quality steering group process.

We Asked

Residents to cast their vote for the People’s Choice Awards as part of the Delivering for Barnet Architecture Awards 2017.

You Said

We received 1,184 responses to an on line survey, which was accessible through the Engage for Barnet webpage. A list of shortlisted projects was presented for public voting, along with images of the shortlisted projects and a short description.

You can access this here.

We Did

We awarded the People’s Choice Award to the winner on Tuesday the 21^st of November at an award ceremony held at Middlesex University in Hendon. In the ceremony we emphasized the importance of the People’s Choice Award as a way to engage and start a positive conversation about design and the public’s preferences.

https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/ehq-production-europe/3393e54adc3f7498d668fde8aec74d7f5d9f9212/documents/attachments/000/001/095/original/Peoples-Choice-nominees-2017.pdf?1507122785

We Asked

For feedback on proposals for the future of the Council’s buildings and land used by community groups, also known as community assets. The proposals recognised the need to balance the value to the community provided through the community estate against potential financial returns that could be achieved.

You Said

We received 18 responses to an on line survey, of which about 60% were supportive of our proposals. We held a series of workshops with community groups, from which several issues emerged which have been addressed in a revised Community Asset Strategy. You can access this here.

We Did

We produced a revised draft Community Asset Strategy to take account of the responses we received to our consultation. Further consultation will take place with groups currently occupying community assets over the summer to inform a detailed implementation plan.

We Asked

Residents for their comments on our proposal to no longer provide a home meals delivery service from April 2016 and we asked for suggestions on how else we can support people to get a meal in Barnet.

You Said

Residents raised a number of concerns about the impact on people as a result of ceasing the service including:

· Concern for vulnerable people, for example people with dementia and health related issues, increase in costs of other services including home care and health services ; loss of social contact; concern about financial implications e.g. paying more for meals;

· Suggestions for alternative ways of supporting people included continuation of the service, encourage and promote other initiatives voluntary sector organisations to provide services and cutting staff salaries.

We Did

Every resident receiving the home meals service has been visited in person for a full review of their needs and to talk through which other options would suit them best.

Throughout January we have been contacting service users again and their carers where appropriate to discuss what options they wish to put in place. We will closely support individuals to put in place alternative options.

We have also put together information about a range of services available in the local community and this information is available on our website. We will continue to update this information periodically.

We asked

We asked for your views on three potential options for how Barnet's library service could be provided in the future

We did: The results of the consultation will inform the development of proposals which will be put into a report on the future shape of library provision in Barnet. The report will be considered by the Children, Education, Libraries and Safeguarding Committee in Autumn 2015.