Call for evidence outcome

Reviewing personal safety measures on streets in England: call for evidence

Updated 27 August 2021

Applies to England

Foreword from Rachel Maclean MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport

Streets are an essential part of people’s journeys, but it has become clear that many people, particularly women, feel unsafe using the street and experience harassment, intimidation or unwanted sexual behaviour in public spaces. This must be addressed if we are to make streets safe for everyone.

I know these issues cannot be solved by design alone. There are much wider cultural, behavioural, and societal issues that need addressing. But streets and roads make up three-quarters of all public space, so their design has a significant impact on people’s lives.

Improvements to the safety of transport will be of limited use if people do not feel safe using the street to access it. We want to find out how the design, maintenance and operation of streets can be improved to make sure everyone feels safe and confident using them in their daily lives. This is about perception, as much as reality – a street may not be dangerous according to the data and yet people will avoid using it, perhaps at certain times of day or night, because it does not feel safe.

This call for evidence is a chance to tell us which design features work and which do not, and provide evidence and data to help us establish the extent of the problem. We are updating the Manual for streets (MfS) and Manual for streets 2 (MfS 2), which provides an opportunity to understand design measures and approaches that may help streets feel safer.

We aim to gather information to enable us to understand the problem, identify possible solutions and include what works and what doesn’t within our updated advice.

Thank you in advance for your feedback.

Context

The design and day-to-day management of streets is the responsibility of local authorities. Our role is to provide the framework within which they operate, including policy and design advice. The major piece of guidance on this subject is the MfS, which covers the design of residential and high streets. MfS 2 extended these principles to busier streets, such as high streets and town centres.

They aim to help designers create streets that put the needs of people first, particularly people walking and cycling. They cover the use of streets for transport, but also as destinations in their own right, as places where people go to shop, meet friends, take part in community events and so on.

MfS and MfS 2 already cover crime prevention within design, but we want to make sure we capture more specific evidence and knowledge that relates to personal safety.

What type of street is in scope?

By ‘streets’, we mean:

• residential streets
• high streets
• town centres and villages
• both urban and rural

We do not include high-speed roads like motorways and trunk roads.

This is not to say that personal safety may not be an issue on those roads, but as the scope of MfS and MfS 2 are very much focused on lower-speed roads, it makes sense for us to focus our evidence gathering in the same way.

Streets can be used in 2 ways:

• as transport: particularly walking, because through walking, streets are the glue that enables access to all other forms of transport. It is also when out walking that people can feel most vulnerable, for example, late at night
• as destinations: streets can also be places in their own right for people to enjoy spending leisure time in and, as such, should be designed to be welcoming places that people can relax in without fear of unwanted attention

This call for evidence does not include specific questions about safety on other transport modes, such as buses and trains, but we are interested in responses about where the street interacts with them – for example, at transport hubs, bus stops, outside train stations, at taxi ranks and so on.

By ‘personal safety’, we mean whether and how people experience or feel at risk of:

• harassment
• intimidation
• unwanted sexual behaviour

And we are asking for the data and evidence around the prevalence of those incidents. This is to differentiate it from road user safety, which generally refers to work to prevent road accidents and to risks created primarily by other traffic.

Who we want to hear from

We’re interested in hearing from:

• individuals, about their own experiences and knowledge
• organisations involved in the design and management of roads, such as:
  • local and traffic authorities
  • planning authorities, management companies (for example, for town centre public realm or shopping centres) and other practitioners
  • the police, particularly in relation to data on levels of incident reporting and types of incidents.
  • operators of transport hubs and services, as places like train stations and bus stops are where the street interacts with other modes of transport.
  • schools and colleges

What happens next

Your responses will be analysed and the results used in the development of updated guidance on street design. We will publish a summary of the responses within 3 months of the consultation closing. Work to revise MfS and MfS2 is currently underway and includes a separate stakeholder engagement process.

Paper copies will be available on request.

If you have questions about this consultation, contact:

Street Design Policy Team
Department for Transport
3rd Floor, Great Minster House
33 Horseferry Rd
London SW1P 4DR
Telephone: 0300 330 3000

Or email: traffic.signs@dft.gov.uk

Consultation questions

You

Are you responding:

• as an individual
• on behalf of an organisation

Organisation details

What is the approximate total number of employees in your organisation?

• 1 to 29
• 30 to 99
• 100 to 499
• 500 to 999
• 1,000 and above

Which region are you based in?

• North East
• North West
• Yorkshire and the Humber
• East Midlands
• West Midlands
• East of England
• London
• South East
• South West
• Scotland
• Wales
• another location

Your organisation type is:

• academia or research?
• local authority?
• transport provider?
• police?
• charity or stakeholder group?
• another type of group?

Factors influencing personal safety

When answering questions:

• include relevant details such as type of streets, location and time of day
• do not provide any information that could identify an individual
• upload and attach any supporting documents if you wish
• where relevant, specify where factors vary by demographics and provide specific evidence (including evidence that is anecdotal, where available) to support your response

What is the prevalence of incidents affecting personal safety on streets? As far as you know, how many incidents affecting personal safety on streets occur yearly (we are particularly interested in the prevalence of unwanted sexual behaviours and harassment)?

In your opinion, which design features and street environments positively impact personal safety on streets and transport locations (for example, bus stops, taxi ranks, rail stations)?

In your opinion, which design features and street environments negatively impact personal safety on streets and transport locations (for example, bus stops, taxi ranks, rail stations)?

Which design features and street environments, in your view, can influence the perception of risk (whether people feel safe) on streets and transport locations? Explain how these factors vary by demographics.

How, if at all, do perceived safety risks affect individual behaviour (for example, travel choice, mode, choice of route)?

Improving safety and confidence

When answering questions:

• include relevant details such as type of streets, location and time of day
• do not provide any information that could identify an individual
• upload and attach any supporting documents if you wish
• where relevant, specify where factors vary by demographics and provide specific evidence (including evidence that is anecdotal, where available) to support your response

What, in your view, are examples of changes to street environments that have successfully improved personal safety on streets? This can include improvements to actual and/or perceived safety.

What, in your view, are examples of changes to street environments that have had a negative or no impact on personal safety on streets? This can include improvements to actual and/or perceived safety.

Please provide examples of changes to street environments that involved users to address personal safety (this can include examples of where users and communities were involved in the design of solutions, either for specific projects or as a longer-term strategy). Where possible, provide details on the approach and impact.

Final comments

Please provide any further comments or suggestions about improving street safety.

Freedom of information

Information provided in response to this consultation, including personal information, may be subject to publication or disclosure in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) or the Environmental Information Regulations 2004.

If you want information that you provide to be treated as confidential, be aware that, under the FOIA, there is a statutory code of practice with which public authorities must comply and which deals, among other things, with obligations of confidence.

In view of this, it would be helpful if you could explain to us why you regard the information you have provided as confidential. If we receive a request for disclosure of the information, we will take full account of your explanation, but we cannot give an assurance that confidentiality can be maintained in all circumstances. An automatic confidentiality disclaimer generated by your IT system will not, of itself, be regarded as binding on the Department for Transport (DfT).

DfT will process your personal data in accordance with the data protection act (DPA) and, in the majority of circumstances, this will mean that your personal data will not be disclosed to third parties.

Data protection

This consultation is about gathering views to inform updated guidance about designing streets. We are asking for:

• your name and email address, in case we need to ask you follow-up questions about your responses (you do not have to give us this personal information, but if you do provide it, we will use it only for the purpose of asking follow-up questions)
• whether you are representing an organisation or yourself
• the total number of employees in your organisation
• the region your organisation is based in. This is so we can conduct regional and sectoral analysis of the responses
• a description of your organisation

Your consultation response and the processing of personal data that it entails is necessary for the exercise of our functions as a government department. DfT will, under data protection law, be the controller for this information.

NatCen is carrying out this evaluation on DfT’s behalf and will have access to responses to the consultation. You can view the NatCen privacy policy on their website.

Any information you provide will be kept securely and destroyed within 12 months after the closing date. Any information provided through the online questionnaire will be moved to NatCen’s systems within 2 months of the consultation period end date.

DfT’s privacy policy has more information about your rights in relation to your personal data, how to complain and how to contact the data protection officer.

To receive this information by telephone or post, contact us on 0300 330 3000 or write to:

Data protection officer
Department for Transport
Ashdown House
Sedlescombe Road North
St Leonards-on-Sea TN37 7GA

Your information will be kept securely on a secure IT system within DfT with limited staff access and destroyed within 12 months after the consultation has been completed.