"Huge amount" done to tackle violence against women and girls in Plymouth
It has been a year since 18-year-old Bobbi-Anne McLeod's murder
Last updated 21st Nov 2022
The Chair of the Plymouth's Violence Against Women and Girls Commission (VAWG) says the city is "committed" to change.
Rebecca Smith has been speaking to us, one year on from the murder of teenager, Bobbi-Anne McLeod.
The 18-year-old was killed when waiting at a bus stop in Leigham, on the night of Saturday 20 November 2021.
Rebecca says there's still a long way to go, but collective work across the city is "gaining momentum":
"A huge amount has been done. Obviously when you're doing a piece of work as big as this where you want to change culture, behaviours and change how systems work, a lot of it relies on setting foundations in place to then build on.
"Different organisations have been doing different things within the kind of expertise that they have. For example, the University of Plymouth and the police gained some funding to do a specific piece of research into how we work together in the city, because a lot of the work we want to do is about delivering that in partnership.
"We've also been able to do some really practical things. Safer streets money - which comes from the Home Office - which the police and the Council, in particular, as part of the Safer Plymouth Partnership secured. That has enabled us to put CCTV help points across the city centre where women and girls can link directly into the CCTV team if they're feeling unsafe or they just want some help.
"We've had night buses that have gone out this winter which enables both women and men, girls and boys to get home safely after a night out. There are also mobile CCTV units that go round.
"So that's some sort of practical stuff that we've had funding to deliver."
She adds: "We've also got the 16 days of activism on violence against women and girls, which starts this Friday.
"We've looked at our domestic abuse work and we've recommissioned that. We've got all sorts of things happening amongst young people as well. The NSPCC in particular have done loads of work off the back of the report to engage with Youth Parliament and other young people to produce a series of videos challenging behaviours and that sort of thing.
"So that's just a glimpse. I've got a whole list in front of me of the things that have happened in the last 12 months, but it is just the beginning. There's a long way to go still, but we've got that collective work across the city gaining momentum."
The multi-agency VAWG Commission was launched in the wake of Bobbi-Anne's murder. It was set up to review set up to review what is being done across the city to educate people, prevent and deter these types of crimes, consider what support is available for victims and make recommendations on what more could be done to make women and girls safer in the city.
On Friday 27 May, their final report and recommendations into Male Violence Against Women and Girls was published.
It presents the findings of the Commission and makes 15 recommendations on how the city will:
- Drive the culture change needed to challenge male violence against women and girls
- Better support women and girls who have been subjected to male violence and abuse
- Create safe places and spaces
- Ensure the building blocks are in place to enable real change to happen
Rebecca adds: "I think when you have the tragedies that we had in our city, that's not going to leave people's memories. People are going to remember why we want to do this and remember why they're so committed to it."
On Tuesday 29 November, an all-day conference will be held for organisations and businesses in the city to come together and hear what has been delivered since the Commission report has been published, help understand what support is available across the city to help drive culture change in businesses and organisations, and co-design a new city-wide Charter Mark scheme.
This week, two of the city's Labour councillors are bringing a motion to full council, calling for action in a number of areas including additional Government funding to deliver on the recommendations as well as a public communications plan on how the recommendations will be implemented.