August 2022: The Street Team is now on duty Monday-Thursday from 8am-10pm and Friday-Saturday from 8am-midnight.
As lockdown eases and businesses re-open, the Marble Arch Street Team continue their ever-present patrolling of the district, acting as the eyes and ears for our members. They are out six days a week, reassuring customers and businesses, keeping premises safe, reporting environmental and highway asset defects and supplying evidence of organised beggars, rough sleepers and waste hot spots to Westminster City Council for them to take action.
During lockdown, we have deployed the Street Team to best serve our members’ needs, removing the morning patrol as all non-essential businesses shutdown and implementing an earlier finish to reflect the lack of night time activity. As businesses returned, and as part of our Recovery Plan, we have restored their hours and since June they have been patrolling from 08:00 to 22:00 Monday to Saturday.
During this lockdown period, from 24 March to 25 July 2020, the Street Team have:
- Replied to calls asking for assistance and visited businesses 435 times
- Helped individuals in need of support and advice on 351 occasions
- Moved on organised beggars 318 times
- Checked and referred rough sleepers 233 times
- Reported 248 environmental hazards
- Removed vice cards from phone boxes 300 times
- Called or supported the emergency services on 28 occasions
- Supported business to help manage queues and social distancing outside their premises
Their information has led to Westminster City Council carrying out operations to remove rough sleeping equipment, question and identify the individuals involved, and support the police to enforce their Community Protection Zone on Edgware Road to help them tackle organised begging.
In addition, the Council has carried out waste operations to remove dumped mattresses, the Street Team have provided vital information on crime hotspots to help target police operations and we have had discussions with BT to better manage their telephone boxes to stop them becoming sources of anti-social behaviour.
As restaurants, pubs and cafes have re-opened the Street Team have been helping The Portman Estate, by assisting traffic marshals at the timed closure of Seymour Place, helping our hospitality sector back onto its feet with additional outside seating in a car-free environment.
The Street Team regularly call in and speak to businesses and patrol vulnerable locations. Please do contact us at safer@marble-arch.london if you would like them to pop in or patrol a particular location.
