Government must back plans for safer public transport

The social media outpouring in response to the abduction and murder of Sarah Everard in London made one thing clear: women, sadly, do not feel safe in public places and we must do something about it.

So, a few months ago I told you about my Safer Streets Survey and we were inundated with responses.

Yousee,publictransportinour region is pretty safe, the stats will show that, but the perception of safety on public transport doesn't necessarily match the statistics and for me feeling safe is just as important as being safe. Overall responses for Northumbria revealed that during the daytime, 47% felt “safe or very safe” on public transport, compared to only 14% at night.

A strong police presence is important, and I will continue with my commitment to keep growing police numbers but there is so much more we can do to help police do their job and help you feel safe.

IapproachedtheleaderofSunderlandCityCouncilaswellasother neighbouring local authority leaders and transport operators to draw up a range of solutions to address the fears and concerns you raised.

Together, we have put everything into this funding bid. A lot of time and thought has gone into creating a strategy that re-thinks public safety for local people.

So what does the plans look like? Well there are various parts to the strategy.

We want to introduce a new reporting app to transform the reporting process, we want more body-worncamerasfortransport staff,StreetPastor-stylesafetyvolunteersonpatrolacrosstheMetro networkandextraCCTVlinkedto control rooms as well as practical solutions like help points and improved lighting.

We want to support this with educational campaigns to raise awareness and promote the support services people can turn to.

So what next? Well our wishlist of proposals are now sitting with the Home Office for consideration. They’ve been submitted along with the findings of the survey and a very clear message that Governmentmustbacktheseconcerns with funds that allow us to do something about them.

I’m confident that we have somerealsolutionsthatwillmake our region safer for everyone. We believe in the improvements we want to make and we want Government to believe in them too and do the right thing by funding plans for our region: now is the time to re-think public safety.

Among the many measures suggested, the plan aims to introduce “Street Pastorstyle safety volunteers on patrol across the Metro network”. Here we see Kim at one of the Metro’s control rooms.