Survey reveals scale of public harassment faced by young women and girls in Cheltenham
The consultation which received responses from girls and women in the town was presented at a Cheltenham Borough Council meeting
A survey has revealed the “shocking” prevalence of public harassment young women and girls face in Cheltenham as concerns over safety during race week come up “time and time again”.
The consultation, which received 177 responses from girls and young women in the spa town aged 11 to 18 years old, was presented at a Cheltenham Borough Council meeting last night (July 6).
The survey also found around 30 per cent of respondents had been sent unwanted explicit images and only 16 per cent feel heard.
Richard Gibson, head of communities, wellbeing and partnerships at the council, presented the report at the meeting and said the “shocking” statistics were a “call to action”.
He said work is being undertaken to make sure they come up with a robust action plan to respond to the report’s findings. And he spoke of a previous presentation which took place at the council.
“Hearing directly from those young women and girls about the issues they face on a day to day basis was jaw dropping,” he said.
“People left that session feeling we have to take action. You can’t walk away from this and just file it away in the to-do list at some abstract point in the future. It was really a call to action.”
He went on to say how the report illustrates some of the issues they face about feeling unsafe after dark.
“Particularly, the issues in race week came up time and time again,” he said.
“But really, sadly, they felt there were multiple barriers to seeking help.
“They were aware of the issues but not confident in us as professionals in being able to sort out and resolve some of their issues.”
He also spoke of the work being done by the council and authorities to tackle some of the issues.
“We heard directly from Pittville School students about the issues they were facing during race week because their school is on that main thoroughfare between the town centre and the race course,” he added.
“It was really pleasing to work with the police and the school to help mitigate some of those risks.”
Another concern highlighted in the report was the lack of things to do and safe places to be in the town centre for young women and girls.
However, he explained they now have the very successful youth cafe in Smokey Joe’s.
Safety and communities cabinet Jamie Jamieson (LD, Lansdown) said the survey told them there is work to be done across the board.
“It was profoundly disturbing,” he said. “For a town like Cheltenham, which I think of as a pretty civilised place, it was very arresting.”
A sub-committee has been set up to come up with an action plan soon to address the issue.
Guy Lavender, chief executive of Cheltenham Racecourse, said the safety of all racegoers and the local community is always a key priority for them.
“We take a zero-tolerance approach to any form of anti-social behaviour or criminal activity and work in partnership with Gloucestershire Police and other local authorities before, during and after every raceday to ensure we are doing everything in our control to support them,” he said.
“This includes our Love Our Turf initiative, which continues to grow and develop as it heads into its fifth year.
“We work closely with a number of other organisations and would of course be very happy to discuss this important subject with any others to help support people in our community.”