How safe do you feel in West Berkshire?
Tell us your experience
Consultation status ArchivedActivity closed. Results published.
Background
Whilst West Berkshire continues to be a very safe place to live, we want to understand if feeling unsafe is a bigger problem in certain public spaces, and is likely to affect some groups more than others.
We know that there are already some great support and community groups in the district, and we want to find out if there are any ways in which people in West Berkshire could feel even more connected to their community.
Why we want your views
It's important that we understand which public spaces in West Berkshire people feel are unsafe and why, e.g. what, if anything, makes you change your route or avoid going to specific places.
We'd like to hear your ideas and suggestions for how public spaces could be changed, e.g. clear sightlines, well maintained spaces, good lighting, and natural surveillance, to make those that use them feel safer.
We also want to know if you feel a part of the community and, if not, what would make you feel more involved.
How to take part
To take part and let us know your experiences and views, please complete our survey by midnight on Sunday, 30 July 2023. It should take about 10 minutes.
If you have any questions about the survey, please contact Lindsey Upton, our Violence Reduction Officer.
For general enquiries about Community Safety, please visit our Building Communities Together webpage.
If you are in immediate danger, call 999 and ask for the police. Press 55 if you are unable to speak on the phone where you will be assisted without having to speak.
What happens next
Your feedback will help us focus our resources to make changes and improve our public spaces, where we can, and support our ongoing partnership work to tackle and reduce both serious violence, and violence against women and girls in West Berkshire. We want to ensure that we use our resources to change our public areas into even safer, and more welcoming spaces.
What you told us
- A very small percentage indicated that they felt very unsafe.
- In the small number of areas where people felt unsafe, the majority of the reasons stated reflected concerns about poor lighting, verbal abuse on the street and overgrown vegetation.
- Just over half of responders felt that there were other areas of West Berks where they would feel unsafe and the majority of these concerns linked to lighting and anti-social behaviour. Most of these concerns linked to a small number of specific geographic locations.
- Very small numbers reported being followed or experiencing indecent exposure. A slightly higher number reported being verbally abused on the street. If not reported to police, the main reason for this was either embarrassment or not realising it was a crime, or feeling as if they had dealt with it themselves.
- The majority of responders felt that they were part of a community – and the overwhelming reasons for this were their neighbours, local groups and social media.
A summary of the responses would indicate that people felt safe where they lived in West Berkshire, but a few locations were highlighted.
What we did
- The responses provided in the survey have been used to identify a number of priority locations to be reviewed.
- These locations have been presented to the Violence Against Women and Girls partnership working group who will review each location to establish what measures could be taken to assess and manage the identified vulnerabilities of each location, making the area safer for all.
- A number of these locations have already been subject to increased high visibility foot patrol by police officers and the partnership work will continue to look at additional solutions.
If you have any questions about this survey, please email Lindsey Upton, our Violence Reduction Officer.
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