Extra £23.5 million available for safer streets 

Police forces and local authorities across England and Wales are to receive a share of £23.5 million to make public spaces safer for all through projects to help women and girls feel safer on our streets.

Part of the government’s Safer Streets Fund, the investment will go to police forces and local authorities across England and Wales as well as the British Transport Police to spend in the 21/22 financial year.

Following the court case concerning the Sarah Everard murder, the latest round of the Safer Streets Fund has a particular emphasis on the safety of women and girls. Crimes which take place in public places such as sexual harassment disproportionately affect women.

Recipients of funding have submitted bids for innovative plans to increase the safety of public spaces, including projects which emphasise changing attitudes and behaviours in local communities. For example, in Humberside, in one of the most deprived estates in the country, funding has gone towards upgrading 20 communal entrances to blocks that drive a high level of burglary and installing 18 secure storage facilities for bikes and motorbikes.

Projects across the country have also focused on setting up Neighbourhood Watch groups, increased Automated Numberplate Recognition Technology and CCTV and introducing wardens to undertake community engagement and train members of the public in crime prevention.