Measures to improve women's safety in Stoke-on-Trent to be introduced 'subtly'

We're being told more than half a million pounds which will be used to improve the safety of women and girls in Stoke-on-Trent, will start to be spent imminently.

Stoke-on-Trent City Council has managed to get the cash from the government's Safer Streets Fund. It follows the murder of Sarah Everard by a serving Metropolitan Police officer in south London earlier this year which sparked a national conversation regarding the safety of women and girls.

Round three of the Safer Streets Fund was announced by the government earlier this month and will see £550,000 invested in areas such as:

• Further installation of lighting

• More CCTV cameras across the city

• Work with schools and communities to deliver targeted educational programmes and awareness campaigns

Leader of Stoke-on-Trent City Council, Abi Brown told us: "People were really keen to share with us how they felt. I'm also very aware that whilst this is specifically focused at women and girls, it is also a wider feeling of wanting to feel safe within your community for anybody who feels a little bit vulnerable - that isn't necessarily always those who we think of.

"What we're trying to do with this is have the measures come forward in quite a subtle way. So they won't necessarily appear in a way that people will suddenly go 'wow, this has changed' but hopefully in that wider sense of things feeling a bit safer.

"I'm keen to see it happen as soon as we possibly can."

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