Barnet Council's Climate Shame

UPDATE: Spring 2023

In 2022 year the new administration at Barnet Council declared a climate emergency, started telling the truth about the situation, and comissions a Citizens' Assembly as a fair way to decide how to make the necessary changes in Barnet.

Extinction Rebellion applaud this progress and are pleased with the progress. We remain concerned that the Citizens' Assembly is not being treated as an emergency response (in line with the declared state of emergency) and worry that it will lead to nice-to-have ( rather than essential) changes.

That means Barnet Council have, at least partly, met two of our three demands: Tell the Truth and Decide Together - but our second demand to Act Now would need the council to act as if they're in a state of emergency.

Join Extinction Rebellion Barnet to connect with other cliamte concerned residents, learn about healthy, regenerative cultures, and how to protest and apply political pressure!

Despite overwhelming evidence Barnet Council continue to ignore well established science and evidence and are not preparing Barnet for the future.

Here we will document (with sources) their neglect of our beloved Borough - to counteract their greenwashing campaign.

Next time Barnet Council tell you something they're doing, ask for evidence. In our experience, they cannot provide it.

Last Updated: September 2021

Barnet Council invest your money in fossil fuels

Would you choose to spend any of your own hard-earned money helping fossil fuel companies grow? Do you think oil is a future-safe investment for your money?

The devil is in the detail and is not easy to find. Scroll down to "Fund Asset Allocation" and note the "FTSE All World Index" - then wonder why they're not at least using the "FTSE All World Index excluding Fossil Fuels".

Barnet Council don't even use renewable energy suppliers

Everyone knows that switching to renewable enegy is cheaper and better for the world. Yet Barnet Council get more than half of their electricity from fossil fuels suppliers - wasting both taxpayer money and needlessly polluting the environment.

You'll need to download the source and calculate the percentages yourself. We won't claim they intentionally made it hard to compare them to the national averages.... but it's odd they used an inconsistent format.

Barnet Council provide no clean-homes grants

Despite two of their constituents a day dying from air pollution, Barnet Council have no grants for homeownes to help to them replace gas-powered central heating with heat pumps. They also have no plans to modernise their own housing stock or offices.


Barnet Council continue to spray our streets with poison

Decimating our biodiversity and causing cancer in humans. But it's OK because it's cheap, apparently. “If members want to move away from that particular product, I am sure we can find something else – but there will be cost implications." - highlighting that to Barnet Council, money is more important than people. 

Copthall Leisure Centre is Gas Powered

In 2015 our councillors at Barnet Council rebuild Barnet Copthall, and then picked fossil fuel powered heating. The dangers of fossil fuels has been known for 200 years and the need to stop using them had been public knowledge since before the councillors who made the decision were born.

In fact, they didn't even consider energy usage in the entire draft brief.

Last year laws were brought in phasing out Gas boilers and ultimately making them illegal to install (from 2035) because of the harm they do. Barnet Council didn't see that coming, because they're out of the loop.

Barnet Council chose to build a health centre which pumps out the very pollution which kills 2 people per week in Barnet.


Barnet Council Prefer Pretty Lawns to Pollinators

We love a pretty lawn, harking back to the Tutor age aristrocracy showing off they could afford to waste land by trimming it.

One of the irony's of Barnet is that we are one of the greenest areas in London, we've got green verges down the sides of many of our roads.

Barnet Council spend your money cutting down pollinator-friendly flowers - instead of saving money and not destroying our eco system.

They also admit that they have not sought any environmental advice on how to manage their verges. It's just an ugly thing to be made pretty, as far as they're concerned.


Barnet continue to prioritise cars over all other transport

Barnet Council consistently prioritises cars over all other modes of transport. Our low-traffic infrastructure is non-existant (and cycle lanes have been embarrasing for years). Electric car infrastructure rollout is several years behind where it should be,.

Barnet Cycling Campaign have been trying to raise awareness about this issue with Barnet Council for decades. Barnet Council have chosen to continue to prioritise cars. https://barnetlcc.org/why-does-barnet-need-low-traffic-neighbourhoods/

There's More!

It took a small team of us only two evenings to pull together the examples and sources above. These are the easy changes which Barnet Council should have already made - we've not even got onto the difficult challenges other areas are already working on.

We all know that politicians speak loudest about what they want to be known for - and the fact that none of the 3 biggest political parties who campaign to run our Borough for us have any plan for the Climate Emergency shows us how little regard they have for it.

This is why we rebel.

Demand Change - Join Us!

XR Barnet is made up of everyday citizens who take time off work and spend our evenings to demand action on the biggest threat known to Humanity. We come from all walks of life - rich and poor, professionals and home-makers, artists and doctors, reluctant petrol car drivers to electric bike enthusiasts.

We're bound by a common cause:
Barnet Council's Climate Negligence.

Extinction Rebellion Barnet use Non-Violent Civil-Disobedience to force the change we all desperatly need. We peacefully and calmly disrupt the economy - because that's all the Council Care about. Money.

Take Action!

Help us raise awareness of Barnet Council's lack of a #ClimateEmergency plan with a free sticker pack. Put them up at work, put them up in the streets. Put them up anywhere people who still trust the Council might see them.

We need change, and for change we need people!