New plans for safer streets

The government will issue new guidance to councils to help them consider how to make their streets safer for women and girls.

YouGov polling has found that almost 9 in 10 (88 per cent) women have felt unsafe while walking at night, while 7 in 10 (71 per cent) have changed their route to avoid walking in the dark during winter or darker months.

Reported barriers include inadequate lighting, poorly maintained routes, personal safety fears and antisocial behaviour. The majority of respondents said they would feel safer walking in their neighbourhoods if key issues were addressed.

Local transport minister Lilian Greenwood, walked around Liverpool with a group of women and girls to talk about what they need to feel safer.

The guidance is due to be published later this year, with training sessions coming in the spring.

The guidance will outline how local authorities can design their streets to be safer for women and girls. This will include looking at active travel through the lens of gender can help create safer and more inclusive places, including explaining the importance of implementing better-designed street lighting and improved visibility, as well as established walking routes along roads that are generally busy and overlooked by other people and CCTV.

Local Transport Minister, Lilian Greenwood said: "No one should worry about getting to their destination safely after dark, and these stats show just how much work there is to be done.

"This programme is turning conversations into real change by working directly with the councils who design our streets to ensure women and girls in our communities feel safe to walk, wheel and cycle whenever they want to."

Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls, Jess Phillips, said: "Violence against women and girls is a national emergency, and this government will halve it in a decade.   Women and girls deserve to feel safe simply going about their lives, whether that is walking down the street, travelling, or using public spaces after dark.

"I welcome this work to design streets that make women feel safer, shifting responsibility away from women and onto the spaces and behaviours that put them at risk."