Councillor Edith David

Budget Council, Council - Tuesday 4th March, 2025 7.00 pm

The Council agreed to adopt the new Local Plan, approved the 2025/26 budget and the associated 4.98% rise in Council Tax, and appointed Cath Shaw as the new Chief Executive.

Governance, Audit, Risk Management and Standards Committee (GARMS) - Monday 10th February, 2025 7.00 pm, NEW

The Governance Audit Risk Management and Standards Committee noted the contents of reports about the Treasury Management Strategy Statement (TMSS ) 2025/26 and the Treasury Management performance Update Q3 2024/25.

Overview and Scrutiny Committee - Thursday 30th January, 2025 7.00 pm

The committee asked the Cabinet to consider the level of public concern about the Edgware growth area, including the lack of a definition of what a bus station is in the adopted Local Plan. The committee also asked the Cabinet to review a report on the Barnet Highway Network Task and Finish Group that recommends improvements to how roads in the borough are maintained.

Governance, Audit, Risk Management and Standards Committee (GARMS) - Wednesday 29th January, 2025 7.00 pm, NEW

The committee noted the Quarterly Risks Report - Q3 202425 and the Grant Certification Report - GARMS Jan 25. The committee also noted the 202324 Interim Audit Findings Report and were assured by the new auditors that a disclaimed opinion would be issued for the 2023/24 accounts once the previous years were signed off by the previous auditors, and the issue relating to the legality of pre-payment of pension contributions was resolved. The committee then noted the Internal Audit Exception Recommendations Report and Q3 Progress Report 1 October 2024 to 31 December 2024 and the work programme, which was rearranged to accommodate the additional meeting in December 2024.

Council - Tuesday 28th January, 2025 7.00 pm

The Council of Barnet Council met on Tuesday 28 January 2025. The meeting started with tributes to Councillor Eva Greenspan, and former Councillors Usha Chopra and Joe Lee who had all sadly passed away. The council then adopted the [Joint Report of the Monitoring Officer and Chief Finance Officer (section 151 Officer)][Council cover report 28 January 2025], which detailed unlawful payments that had been made to, and from the Barnet Pension Fund. The Council delegated to the Pension Fund and Governance, Audit, Risk Management and Standards Committees the task of establishing the best way to rectify these unlawful payments, and delegated authority to the Chief Executive, in consultation with the Monitoring Officer and Chief Finance Officer, to put those steps into effect. The council also noted the appointment of Alexa, Alina, Zahra, and Shama from Copthall Girls School to speak about the 60th anniversary of the London Borough of Barnet.