The Front Line Award: London Borough of Barnet & NSL

The COVID-19 pandemic pushed everyone out of their comfort zones,” says Philip Hoare, assistant director, parking at the London Borough of Barnet. “In partnership with NSL, we responded to the challenge by helping the most vulnerable residents and supporting the community while ensuring that critical services continued to run effectively. I was proud to see the hard work being put in by the NSL team who were reassigned to monitoring our parks to ensure social distancing was observed over the warm Easter weekend.”

The good weather during the first lockdown presented challenges relating to maintaining social distancing in parks over the Easter period. Barnet asked NSL to provide patrols to support Community Police and Council Neighbourhood Community Safeguarding teams to ensure park-goers adhered to government instructions. NSL geared up within 24 hours to identify and train a team of 21 CEOs who volunteered to assist. This was so successful that the service was extended to include monitoring support in town centres and continued every weekend until the end of the first lockdown.

NSL and Barnet Council undertook a range of activities to support the community during the pandemic, including:

• NSL marshals working alongside Barnet’s COVID enforcement team to ensure people were always wearing masks in retail premises and that social distanced queuing was being maintained. Focus was on areas where the level of compliance was low.
• Supporting the reallocation of road space, including the monitoring and enforcement of social distancing suspended parking bays.
• NSL teamed up with the council to set up an Essential Supplies Hub at the RAF Museum. CEO Ovidiu Singeorzan was recognised for his contribution in the local press.
• Ensured safe provision of COVID-secure access to Synagogues across the borough on behalf of the Jewish community, especially during religious holiday periods.

As the pandemic progressed, NSL provided further assistance to Barnet Council in helping run testing centres setup to try to slow the spread of the virus. They included a walk-through testing centre at Osidge Lane car park in Southgate which required abandoned vehicles to be removed from the site ensuing the space was safe, accessible, and welcoming. NSL assisted with the management of daily visits, helped to maintain social distancing, and ensured the steady flow of people through the site. This service was extended to vaccination centres across the borough and included setting up relevant signage and ensuring parking compliance within 100 metres of each centre.

Philip Hoare wrote to NSL’s enforcement manager Mattia Falchi, saying: “I wanted to send you my thanks for the work you have done to co-ordinate volunteering within NSL. I know that the wider council were really struggling to find some people to support the work and that has made a real difference. You pulled people together at short notice and did so willingly and cheerfully. You’ve interacted with senior council officers professionally and given clear, appropriate information. It’s obvious you’ve put a lot of work in during your own time and without your efforts this would not have come together so well or so rapidly.”

Phin Skipper, Barnet’s parking enforcement operations manager, added: “I wanted to thank the NSL Barnet team for all their work over the last year of COVID. From the rapid changes required this time last year to protect staff and the public, through to social distancing patrols, introduction of testing centres, to the vaccine roll-out this year. I am pleased to have such hard-working and dedicated officers to rely on. The flexibility and positive attitude you have all shown in really difficult times has made many things possible that we could not otherwise have achieved.”