Bournemouth West MP Jessica Toale was joined by around 50 residents and an expert panel to a discussion about women's safety in the town centre ahead of International Women's Day on 8 March.
The event, a collaboration with PATCH on the first floor of Bobby's, gave local women a chance to share their experiences of Bournemouth Town Centre and share ideas of how to improve things.
The panel - comprising Bournemouth's first female MP, BCP Council's Tina Symington, Design West's Veronica Barbaro, Bournemouth Town Centre BID's Vicky Sheppard, Office of the Police Crime Commissioner's Rachel Young, and Dorset Police's Sophie Williams - discussed women's safety from a range of perspectives from policing and culture to design and the night time economy.
Jessica shared updates from the Government on the policies and investment into areas such as high street renovation and support for homelessness; Tina outlined some of the work the council is doing with boys in schools to tackle sexist culture; Veronica shared some examples of how other cities are designed to be safer for women; Vicky talked about the Unity Promise work the BID and council have been working on with local businesses, Rachel spoke about the wider police work to tackle Violence Against Women and Girls; and Sophie talked about the extra 'hotspot' police patrols in the town centre in areas with bigger issues.
The group, made up mostly of women but with a few men too, took a walk through the centre up towards Old Christchurch Road sharing their experiences along the way - topics from empty shops and lack of lighting came up, along with needing to encourage more people into the centre and ensure safe places for women to park when visiting town at night.
Returning to PATCH at the end for a cuppa and a Q&A where local women raised issues about antisocial behaviour around their homes on the East Cliff, not feeling safe walking in the gardens on their own, or with three strip clubs in the town. There were ideas shared too, including bringing more arts and culture into the town centre, learning from European cities with their cafe culture and improving lighting around the bus stop area. Jessica said: "It's so important to bring women together and for me as MP, and the other panellists, to hear different experiences of women in the town centre. Even where crime figures are low, women do not feel safe and it's important that we work together to understand that and address it." Natalia Tipling, who attended the event, said: "I found it really insightful especially as a Bournemouth University Student who has recently moved here, I've got more knowledge about the town. I would like to see more things for students being added - more social spaces."
The International Women's Day event was part of a wider focus on Bournemouth Town Centre this Spring, with more coffee mornings and a town hall event planned to hear from other residents about wider issues and ideas. See events page for further details.
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