Southampton City Council awarded £150,000 from national Safety of Women at Night fund

Following a successful bid to the Home Office, a further £150,000 has been awarded to Southampton City Council, focused on improving the safety of women at night

This additional money will help to fund a number of initiatives focused on preventing violence against women and girls (VAWG) in public spaces at night, including in the night-time economy, within venues such as bars and clubs, restaurants and on related routes home.

The main aims of the Safety of Women at Night fund are to:

• Reduce incidents of violence against women and girls (VAWG) in public spaces at night, including in the night-time economy
• Reduce the fear of VAWG and improve feelings of safety in public spaces at night
• Build an evidence base for what works in improving women’s safety in public spaces at night

Cllr Spiros Vassiliou, Cabinet Member for Communities, Culture & Heritage comments:

“We as a city strive to do more and will be doing more to make Southampton a safer place. We know through national and local evidence that it is women and girls who face higher levels of violence and harassment in public places and we want to do all that we can to reduce incidents in the city. With this fund, we will be working with partners to deliver several initiatives to improve safety in hotspot areas including extra security, an increased police presence and the creation of safe spaces.”

The programme will enable:

• Increased visible security presence in the City Centre through Safe and Well Monitors (designed to specifically help women who may have become separated from friends or who may be otherwise vulnerable), Street Security and Street Pastors
• Increased CCTV operation
• Radios for more licensed premises to join the existing police/licensing scheme
• Safe Spaces in the night time economy venues – developing best practice
• Pop-up Safe Zone – St John Ambulance with a temporary site on busy weekends
• Safe Solent – increase in night buses to get students home safely

The Home Office, with the support of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, has launched a new online tool called StreetSafe, piloted across Police forces in England and Wales. It allows the public, particularly women and girls, to pinpoint areas on a map where they feel unsafe and say why. The information is used by Police forces to better work with communities to improve local safety.

Inspector Clare Denyer from Southampton Central’s Neighbourhood Policing team said:

“We’re really pleased this funding has been secured, recognising that reducing violence against women and girls is a priority.

“Tackling violence against women and girls is not something the Police can do alone, it requires support from a number of agencies and we can only make Southampton safer for women if we work together.

“To compliment this work, we have been working closely with many of our partners, including licensed premises, Street Pastors, Southampton’s Violence Reduction Unit and CCTV operators to make Southampton a safer place for women and girls when they are out in public spaces.”

The Safety of Women at Night funding is in addition to the £192,545 Southampton received as part of the latest round of the Government’s Safer Streets fund, created to increase the safety of public spaces for all. The third round of funding focuses on interventions to protect women and girls, targeting the root causes, emphasising on changing attitudes and behaviours and challenging gender stereotypes.