Revealed: York's 'most unsafe' streets at night

Top of the list is Cinder Lane, which runs from behind the railway station across a railway bridge to Holgate.

The riverside walkways between Scarborough Bridge and Clifton Bridge have also been identified as places where people feel unsafe at night – as have Rougier Street and Clarence Street.

Other streets, alleyways and public spaces identified as unsafe by York people during a Civic Trust online workshop held as part of York Design Week include:

•  the Stonebow area
• Tang Hall Beck cycle path
•  Hob Moor
•  Love Lane
•  Blue Bridge and New Walk

The map was drawn up during the workshop, and is based on areas where those taking part said they felt most unsafe, or which were most unwelcoming or lonely at night. Many of the areas identified are connecting links between the city centre and the inner suburbs, said Dr Duncan Marks, the trust’s civic society manager.

York Civic Trust chief executive Andrew Morrison said the aim of publishing the heat map was not to label certain streets as ‘no go’ areas – but to get people talking.

It is hoped the results could also feed into planners’ thinking when detailed designs are drawn up for major projects such as York Central – or the public space that is to be created at Clifford’s Tower.

The trust launched its ‘Safer Places by Design’ programme to encourage a public debate about how safe our streets are in the wake of the murder of Sarah Everard.

Mr Morrison said York was undoubtedly safe compared to many other town and cities. But it could be even safer, especially at night, he said.

“You do plan your route when getting about,” Mr Morrison said. “You might think ‘I’m happy going down this road, but I’m not going down that road'.”

Trust board member Elizabeth Heaps, who spoke out earlier this month about how unsafe women feel when they are out alone at night, said developments such as York Central or the Castle Gateway offered ‘a golden opportunity’ to design safer streets and spaces.

“Places where people walk and children play need to be easily watched over,” she said. “Buildings which overlook walking and cycling streets should be populated and lit so that they provide passive surveillance – there should be no buildings with blank facades or which ‘turn their back’ on the streets (and) no concealed spaces such as bin stores where people can hide and jump out.”

Richard Ball, North Yorkshire Police’s ‘Designing out Crime’ officer, said improving the safety of streets and alleyways at night wasn’t difficult.

He agreed with Elizabeth Heaps that there were certain key principles: better lighting and landscaping, and fewer high blank walls that cut streets and alleyways off from public view. “Streets need to be overlooked and lighted,” he said. Even something as simple as cutting back trees and bushes could make a difference, he added.

Mr Ball has one particular bugbear – ‘bollard lights’, in which lights are set in low bollards at the side of a street or alley. The light from these doesn’t reach up to head height, he said – meaning that it leaves people’s faces in shadow.
When we walk along a street and see someone coming, we instinctively look at their face to get a sense of whether they might pose a threat, he said. “If you can’t see their face you can’t do that.”

The Civic Trust is hoping its research will feed into the city council’s ongoing ‘My City Centre’ discussion about making the centre of York a better place to live and work.

The council certainly seems to be taking notice.

Cllr Denise Craghill,the authority’s executive member for housing and safer neighbourhoods, said: “Whilst comparatively York is a safe city we know that more can be done. We welcome the work of York Civic Trust. It is vitally important that people are able to safely enjoy everything that the city centre has to offer.”

Find out more about ‘safer paces by design’ at yorkcivictrust.co.uk/safer-places-by-design/