Do you feel safe in Salisbury? Campaign groups launch new survey

Salisbury Soroptimists and Safer and Supportive Salisbury are urging locals to fill out their survey, to find out how safe we feel in the city centre.

Last year the Police and Crime Commissioner’s Office carried out a survey across Wiltshire to find out how safe people felt in the county.

The survey asked nearly 3,000 people – mostly women – and found that only 3% of respondents felt safe at night.

Since then, several initiatives have been carried out to help improve safety in the county.

Wiltshire police launched the Night Safety Charter, which encouraged venues to make the night-time economy safer. This included implementing the ‘Ask Angela’ initiative, so women in danger could seek help from bar staff.

Salisbury Soroptimists and Safer and Supportive Salisbury have supported the effort through their Making our City Safer campaign.

Liz Batten is a volunteer at Salisbury Soroptimists.

“Women shouldn’t have to walk across a dark car park with their keys in their hand as a protection,” she said.

“They should be able to just get into their car or onto the bus without worrying.”

The group have held community conferences and conducted street light audits, helping women to walk home alone safely.

This year's survey will be used to track their progress in the city and see if attitudes have changed.

“People do seem to be connecting with what we’re doing,” Liz said.

“We thought it would be good to see almost a year on how things have changed.

“If they have changed, whether people feel safer or less safe than they did a year ago, and whether some of things we’ve been doing have been making a difference.”

Liz wanted to stress that although her focus is in improving safety for women, she is keen to hear from everyone about their experience.

“It’s for everybody, because if women and girls feel safe, then we hope that men and boys and other adults, elderly people, and everyone will feel safe.”

You can fill out their survey here.

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