Cost of Living support
Barnet Council will reinvest £974K to help fund crucial services for residents, thanks to increased earnings from the publicly owned energy-from-waste facility at Edmonton EcoPark.
Barnet is one of seven North London councils to receive part of £4.75million, which will go to support residents dealing with the cost of living crisis.
Barnet Council Leader, Cllr Barry Rawlings said: “We welcome this additional funding from the North London Waste Authority which we will use to help residents by financing services they need.
“This is a great example of the public sector generating energy from waste and using the proceeds to help us keep the cost-of-living down for residents locally rather than it going as profit into the hands of private company shareholders.
“We have already created the Barnet Resident Support Fund in response to the cost-of-living crisis and will use this additional money to boost that if required. Remaining funds will be used to help Barnet residents where it is most needed.”
Earlier this month, the council announced a new £2million Residents’ Support Fund to provide targeted financial assistance to help residents tackle the cost-of-living crisis. This is part of a wider £9million support package to help financially stricken residents.
The support will aid residents with budgeting, accessing eligible benefits, pensions credits and direct financial support.
It will also include additional funding to the voluntary, community and faith sector to enable community-led initiatives such as warm spaces and warm clothes banks, as well as plans to work closely with BOOST to help people secure jobs.
ENDS
NOTES TO EDITORS: North London Waste Authority (NLWA), the public body responsible for managing the recycling and waste produced by north London residents, is the 100% shareholder of LondonEnergy Ltd, the company that operates the energy-from-waste facility in Edmonton.
Breakdown of £9million cost of living support:
- Resident support fund - £2m
- Housing support fund - £2.5m (and £2.5m awarded to date)
- BTA Community Response Fund - £300,000 (£150,000 match-funding)
- Community Innovation Fund - £250,000
- Council Tax Discretionary Relief
- Discretionary Housing Payment - £1,445,000 (£626,000 awarded to date)
- School Uniform Fund – (£17,000 spent to date)