𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Councils will receive guidance for the first time on how to create streets that are safer for women and girls. The advice, being drawn up by Active Travel England (ATE), is expected to include measures such as better lighting and CCTV, and replacing dark underpasses with street-level crossings.

The Daily Express has launched a Safer Streets campaign, demanding councils light up our roads. Local transport minister Lilian Greenwood described the guidance for English councils as both a fundamental issue of fairness and also a way to improve levels of physical activity among women and girls, which tend to be lower than their equivalents for men and boys.

Ms Greenwood said: “For too many people in this country, walking is not simple or straightforward.

“For too many, particularly women and girls, it comes with a calculation – a constant, exhausting mental calculation – about safety, lighting, routes and risk. Rather than get excited about the destination, too many are forced to fret about the journey.”

Officials will also look at initiatives from other countries, such as schemes in Spain and Sweden which allow women to ask bus drivers to drop them between stops at night to minimise how long they have to walk in the dark.

Polling for ATE found nearly three-quarters of women said they changed their routes in winter to avoid walking in dark places, with 88% saying they felt unsafe walking alone at night.