How UK councils plan to make streets safer for women and girls
Councils in England are set to receive new guidelines to make streets safer after a survey found nearly nine in 10 women feel unsafe walking at night.
Government agency Active Travel England (Ate) said the advice would highlight the importance of well-designed street lighting and creating footpaths, as well as busy roads covered by CCTV.
Ate conducted a survey of 2,125 adults in the UK and found that 88 per cent of women felt unsafe after dark.
It was also revealed that 71 percent of female participants changed their route to avoid walking in the dark.
Inadequate lighting, poorly maintained routes, fears for personal safety and antisocial behavior were identified as key problems in the survey.
Ate national commissioner Chris Boardman described the results of the survey as “appalling”.
The guidance will reference interventions implemented abroad, such as in Vigo, Spain, where a program was introduced to allow women and girls to ask bus drivers to stop anywhere along the route overnight, rather than just at designated stops.
This reduces the distance they need to walk home.
Ate said some towns and cities across England were already taking steps to improve street safety for women and girls.
Precautions include:
- 27 new CCTV cameras in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, where women reported feeling unsafe;
- A designated safe walking route providing better visibility to Milton Keynes railway station in Buckinghamshire;
- The introduction of Halo Points, well-lit, highly visible devices providing direct links to emergency services and CCTV, into Liverpool city centre.
English councils will receive the new guidelines later this year and training sessions will be offered in the spring.
Olympic champion cyclist Mr Boardman said it was a “terrible thing” that women and girls felt they did not have the same freedom to “walk the neighbourhood” as men and boys.
She continued: “The appalling finding that almost nine in 10 women say they feel unsafe walking after dark is an appalling finding that we should be ashamed of.
“For too long we have designed streets that are not suitable for women and girls.
“Whether by providing better lighting, surface crossings via underpasses, safety cameras or simply by listening to and acting on lived experience, we want to help councils remove the barriers that prevent women and girls from choosing to walk and use wheels.”
The government has a target of halving violence against women and girls within ten years.
Local transport minister Lilian Greenwood said the survey results showed “how much work remains to be done”.
Home Secretary Jess Phillips said violence against women and girls was a “national emergency”.
Catherine Woodhead, chief executive of charity Living Streets, said ignoring women’s safety on the streets led to them missing out on “everything from education and exercise to access to entertainment and employment”.
– The survey was conducted by research company YouGov in February.
