The data was revealed after law firm Irwin Mitchell made Freedom of Information (FoI) requests to the 20 councils for the most populous areas in the UK.
It shows that Barnet has 29 schools containing the potentially cancer-causing substance, putting it seventh on the list for schools that contain asbestos.
The schools were among 51 Barnet buildings containing asbestos – the lowest in the UK – with 17 park buildings, 13 libraries, 13 admin buildings and eight mixed-use properties.
Elsewhere, the figures revealed that 4,533 public buildings across the 20 councils still contain asbestos, averaging at around 225 buildings per local authority.
Schools are the largest category of buildings affected, making up almost a quarter of the total number.
Exposure to asbestos when it is damaged or disturbed can lead to mesothelioma, a terminal cancer of the lining of the lungs, or asbestosis, a chronic lung disease.
Adrian Budgen, a leading specialist asbestos-related disease lawyer at Irwin Mitchell, said: “Most people associate asbestos with historical exposure in factories or construction work, but these latest figures highlight the extensive risk still posed by the deadly substance across the UK in everyday buildings used by the public.
“One of the main problem areas is revealed to be schools, which are obviously densely populated with pupils, teachers and other school workers for long hours at a time.
“It’s extremely worrying that so many still contain asbestos, essentially putting children at risk every day.”
Irwin Mitchell discovered that no asbestos had been withdrawn in Barnet since 2018, but 80 asbestos surveys were completed during the same period.
In April 2022, MPs suggested that there should be a 40-year deadline targeted for the elimination of asbestos from the hundreds of thousands of buildings that contain it. The government decided to refuse the recommendation from the Work and Pensions Committee report.
Barnet Council was approached for comment but did not respond.
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