Women’s Safety: Walking, Wheeling, Cycling and Running

Debate between John Slinger and Christine Jardine

Tuesday 27th January 2026 Westminster Hall

[John Slinger (Rugby) (Lab)]

It is an honour to serve under your chairship, Ms Jardine. I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Lowestoft (Jess Asato) for her assiduous campaigning and for bringing this important issue to the Chamber.

This is a problem suffered by women but caused by men—not all men, of course—and men must be the main part of the solution. Women’s spaces are being constricted. Women are forced to take exercise in more public places and to avoid footpaths and canal towpaths, and parents of daughters will have had those conversations with them. However, when they move into those more public places, which are better lit and supposedly safer, they face intimidation, catcalling and the like. That is a total outrage, as my hon. Friend the Member for Shipley (Anna Dixon) said. If it were happening to men, I can assure Members that it would be dealt with very rapidly.

Women are adapting their behaviour, but it is men’s behaviour and attitudes that need adapting, confronting, changing and—yes—on occasion prosecuting. Many men and boys do not even know they are doing anything wrong, but they are intimidating women, and shrinking their status and freedom as citizens. We therefore need a multifaceted approach, and that of course is what the Government are taking through their VAWG strategy, encompassing education, public education, police and criminal justice system work, and more.

This is clearly not something that can be prosecuted out of existence, but part of the challenge is to defeat the defeatism, and more can and is being done. If we mention catcalling, people instinctively say, “That can’t be dealt with; How could you prosecute it?” However, as we heard in relation to the Jog On campaign, it is possible for police to take action.

I want to touch briefly on the work of Warwickshire police in Rugby. They have a safer neighbourhood team that carries out VAWG walks; an enhanced policing initiative on Friday and Saturday nights that promotes Ask for Angela; and Project Vigilant, in which officers are trained to detect predatory behaviour. They have also set up a working group that looks at surveys from the parkrun and walking groups to get data so that they can work out whether they would like to carry out an operation similar to the Jog On operation carried out by Surrey police. They also do a lot of education in schools.

We need to ensure that there are no no-go areas for women and girls in our society, and to commit to work more to tackle the misogynistic, predatory behaviour of some men and boys. They need to be the people who feel worried and intimidated when they go into public spaces—or any other spaces—with the attitudes we have talked about and perpetuate them.

[Christine Jardine (in the Chair)]

I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.

Road Safety: Schools

Debate between John Slinger and Christine Jardine

Wednesday 29th January 2025 Westminster Hall

[John Slinger (Rugby) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Jardine. I congratulate the hon. Member for Chester South and Eddisbury (Aphra Brandreth) on securing this important debate and on her excellent contribution.

One key aspect of road safety around schools is drop-off and pick-up time, as my hon. Friend the Member for Chatham and Aylesford (Tristan Osborne) has mentioned. I took action on that issue previously as a councillor—I continue to take action on it as an MP—working with fellow councillors, the local authority, the school leadership, the police and residents at Oakfield primary academy, where there had been problems the likes of which have been alluded to.

In Warwickshire, Eastlands primary school in my constituency was the site of a county council school street pilot scheme. Prior to that, there was what the council described as “inconsiderate parking”, “congestion”, and sometimes “complete gridlock” and a “threat to safety”. As I am sure we can all agree, that is a perennial problem, but the school street approach can help. In the case of the pilot scheme, restrictions were introduced using a traffic order. Two park-and-stride car parks gave parents alternative places to park and a new school crossing patrol on a busy road was implemented, all of which helped.

My experience in this space has led me to some observations, which the Minister will perhaps consider. Far more people are driving their children to school now than ever before. We may be able to do things with more public transport, safer cycle paths and more active lifestyles and walking, which are relevant to Government priorities for the NHS and transport in the long term. Some schools are in tightly packed residential streets, and that cannot be overcome in the short, medium or perhaps even long term. More children are attending schools away from their home address through either parental choice or local authority allocation. That can have an effect, because more journeys are being taken, so perhaps more work can be done on capacity.

Council enforcement can be done only when traffic regulation orders are in place, and they can be created only when a proper survey has taken place. Again, resources will then be an issue. I have spoken about this to the police, to which the public often turn. It can enforce only in some cases, and, with the best will in the world, it will never be able to enforce in this matter regularly. It is therefore vital that a partnership approach is used, whereby the school leadership liaises with parents and educates students, local residents are involved in discussions so that their frustrations are heard, the council and local councillors are aware and active, and the police are kept informed. I have tried to use that approach, and I have liaised with local residents. In the case of Oakfield primary, in my constituency, I encouraged a local business, Cemex, to pay for cartoon signs—I am sure we have all seen them around schools—designed to prevent people parking on grass verges or kerbs near the school. That has helped, as well.

More broadly, schools can consider other innovative options, such as arranging for students in some areas to walk to school. However, I am acutely aware that we need not to overburden hard-pressed teachers with additional responsibilities. They are already, quite understandably, reluctant to become quasi-traffic enforcement officers when dealing with people who are, after all, the parents of their students. I therefore welcome the Government’s renewed guidance, helping councils to deliver school streets that work for schools and local communities. I also commend the Government’s Active Travel England agency for recently releasing guidance to local authorities to help them implement school streets. It is important work.

In conclusion, there is no panacea, sadly, but more can definitely be done. I am glad that Warwickshire county council, working with local borough councils, hopes to introduce more school street schemes, focusing on primary schools. Those schemes can have a profound effect on improving the health of young people, reducing the risk of disagreements between parents and local residents, and, most importantly, making our schools much safer for our young people.

[Christine Jardine (in the Chair)]

Would the hon. Member for Rossendale and Darwen (Andy MacNae) like to make some remarks? We will then move on to the Front Bench at eight minutes past.