Boris Johnson’s significant lead on 1st preferences and the clear win after the 2nd preferences were allocated has been widely attributed to the suburbs coming out to vote on the Mayoralty like never before. Notwithstanding the excruciating counting process imposed by the quango London Elects and the seemingly errors inflicted by them on us locally, the result was clear, the suburbs felt Mayor Livingstone did not represent their views.

Certainly Boris Johnson has an opportunity to work with the outer London Councils on the many issues that face us, housing growth that meets the nature of the suburbs, traffic infrastructure investment that isn’t Zone 1 centric and a traffic policy that gets London moving. Boris’s transitional team will now swing into action and I don’t envy him the task of trying to halt the organisational juggernauts of the London Development Authority and Transport for London, let alone turning them around to reflect the new priorities of his administration.

The good thing is Boris has a mandate, an unprecedented number of voters poured out at the polls for the Mayor and Assembly last Thursday. In some parts of the Borough turnout was as high as 60%. It demonstrated a real interest in the election by residents in our suburbs, and a keenness to ensure their hopes and fears were expressed at the ballot box.

In particular, many Barnet residents want to see the local environment protected and preserved, but also worry about levels of crime, particularly low-level disorder.

I am therefore glad the new Mayor, Boris Johnson, has taken this on board and is bringing forward his radical proposals to tackle crime in the capital.

As a Borough which contains some of the worst Bus Routes for “Code Red” Emergency Calls, Barnet residents will, I am sure, be pleased by his plans to root out antisocial youths that make life misery for law-abiding passengers.

His moves will see more than 400 extra Police recruited to keep our buses and stations safe, and is launching his impressive Boris’ Operation Payback initiative, where troublesome youths will have their rights to free travel suspended.

Boris Johnson has also pledged to protect our pleasant suburban communities by safeguarding our gardens from development. Front and back gardens currently enjoy little protection from bulldozers, being classed as “Brownfield” land, and Mr. Johnson’s move is a victory for those of us who have long fought for a change in these rules.

If the campaign proved anything, it showed that Boris is not just a serious politician, but he is also a listening one, who has taken on board the views of all Londoners, not just those who live in Zone 1. As Leader of one of London’s 32 Borough (plus, of course, the City), I look forward to working with him to put his plans into action.

This week I visited an eco-village to look at some of the latest designs in eco-homes. The latest design by Barratt Homes meets what is called Code 6 standard i.e. a zero carbon footprint home. The home will require any eventual owners to change their living habits. Rooms are highly insulated with small windows (not to everyone’s taste) which do open, but keeping them closed is encouraged. Apparently the house is designed to retain heat or alternatively take cool air and convert it to warm air (the opposite of what a fridge does). Small windows also mean less heat coming into the house through direct sunlight, which would upset the electronically balanced heat/cool flow within the home. The house is also designed to have a nil fuel bill, photo-sensitive panels and wind turbines generated power which is stored or if not used, sold back to the National Grid – over the year the use of power and selling of surplus power should net off. Whilst the external appearance was not the most attractive, some of the earlier prototypes were striking, modern and may well attract buyers. There’s the rub. At present because so few eco-homes are built the add on cost of the panels, turbines etc adds about £15,000 to a home costing about £250,000 and apparently home-buyers, when asked by Barratts, said they would pay that much extra.

So there is going to have to be a major expansion of eco-homes to make the eco-technology cost effective. The cost of doing nothing is huge, but a little less tangible than an extra £15,000 on a new home. Consumers will need to feel comfortable that the cost to their pocket is a price worth paying.

Given that Barnet will house many new homes in the next ten years and the bulk of the purchasers will be the very people that need to be persuaded to change their habits and perhaps pay a little more, should Barnet house an eco-village? I’m tempted to encourage a number of house builders to come to Barnet and build a few eco-show homes. If the voice of the suburbs is going to be carbon neutral, where better than to start in Barnet?

Is it time to reverse the Greenwich decision? What’s that you ask? In 1989 there was a court case which basically said that it was illegal for Councils to give preference to pupils living in their own Borough. I have no problem with other councils wanting to send their children to be educated in one of Barnet’s schools. Let’s face it our schools are on the whole better than those in neighbouring Boroughs. That’s why we ‘import’ more pupils than we ‘export’ – no that’s not child trafficking – but simply that more children come into our schools than we send out to neighbouring Councils’ schools.

Given the hullabaloo about admissions this week – inaccurate and inflammatory accusations from the Secretary of State for Children – made me think would reversing the Greenwich decision be the answer? Mr Balls likes the idea of a Borough wide lottery – although given the geographic size of Barnet this would cause major logistical problems for parents as they shunted their children up and down the Borough.

However Mr Balls seems to have avoided allowing Councils to give preference to their own pupils. If we could offer places to our pupils first; then just top up empty places from neighbouring Boroughs perhaps we may be able to offer parents a school of their preference 100% of the time - not just the 76% who currently get their first or second preference. Is Mr Balls up for it?

City Hall to Tammany Hall? The current shenanigans at City Hall from Dear Ken do no one in elected office any good. Mr Jasper is accused of funnelling monies to organisations he has an interest in – either directly because he knows the directors or is a director; or indirectly because he is sexually infatuated with a senior manager at one of the organisations. Ken of course denies Mr Jasper has done anything wrong as does Mr Jasper. Eventually the truth comes out and Mr Jasper departs – only for Ken to say he will take him back (if Ken is re-elected and that’s a big if). My heart sinks to think that if Ken is re-elected we are going to get more of the same.

Now accusations fly all the time but when as serious as these, the Mayor should have had a swift, through and proper investigation. Mr Jasper should have been suspended and investigated quickly, the death by speculation and eventual leaking of e-mails is corrosive. Oddly had he been a Councillor he could have been reported to the standards board and the issue dealt with quickly.

The fact is that public servants in the UK are remarkably uncorrupted and try to work for the good of the community similarly public sector employees are remarkably dedicated. The shenanigans at City Hall diminish us all. London is a great City but London politics at City Hall is rapidly becoming like Chicago in its Tammany Hall fame. Not surprisingly I will be backing Boris.

Last Saturday I had the pleasure of attending the Finchley Manorhill Greek School annual dinner and dance. The school is now based at Ravenscroft School, recently judged excellent by Ofstead – thanks to the wonderful Head teacher, Mary Karaolis and her team. The evening was raising fund for the voluntary school but what impressed me was the age range of the students taking part in the display of Greek dancing. From toddlers to teenagers – they all took pride in displaying their skill. As well as learning traditional Greek dancing the students learn Greek – all in their own time. An evening a week and a Saturday morning are sacrificed to learn about their cultural heritage. Youth often get a bad press because of a small minority but voluntary and community groups do so much to keep our youth engaged. So well done Ravenscroft and the Greek School.

The awarding of four stars is excellent and welcome news. Not only does it recognise the major turnaround in key front line services, but it also recognises that the Council is well placed to continue to improve. Does it mean everything is perfect – no!