Active Travel England (ATE) and the UK Government have announced new guidance for local authorities on how to make their streets safer for women and girls. 

Inadequate lighting, poorly maintained routes, personal safety fears and antisocial behaviour were identified as key barriers preventing women and girls from feeling safe when walking at night in their communities. 

The new guidance is supported by new polling from YouGov released today (25 March 2026 which details that almost 9 in 10 (88%) of women have felt unsafe while walking at night, while 7 in 10 (71%) have changed their route to avoid walking in the dark during winter or darker months. The survey respondents highlighted that they would feel safer walking in their neighbourhoods if key issues were addressed. 

The new guidance will be published in 2026, alongside training sessions in the spring, outlining how local authorities can design their streets to be safer for women and girls. 

The guidance will set out how adopting a gender-informed approach to active travel can contribute to the creation of safer and more inclusive environments. It will underscore the importance of enhanced street lighting design and improved visibility, as well as the provision of clearly defined walking routes along well-used roads that benefit from natural surveillance and CCTV coverage, thereby supporting a greater sense of safety for women and girls travelling at night. 

Local authorities will be able to draw on their allocation of Active Travel England’s £626 million funding pot to address street safety issues, including improvements that make walking safer and more appealing for women and girls. 

Local Authorities can now sign up to ATE training sessions in April, exploring how the needs of women and girls can be better reflected in active travel design. 

Training session details:  

Thursday 23 April, 12.00-1.30pm, for local authorities: https://lnkd.in/eJvhjX2K 

Wednesday 29 April, 12.00-1.30pm, for architects and developers: https://lnkd.in/ej5uwyA9 

The CIHT report ‘Overcoming the barriers to implementing active travel schemes’ highlights the benefits of increasing active travel, including improving health, quality of life, the environment, local economies and reduce the costs associated with health and social care.  

However, in England, highways networks can prove inhospitable to active travel, meaning that many people are forced to rely on private vehicles for everyday journeys. This is exacerbated when considering that women and girls are significantly less likely to use active travel than men at certain times of day and depending on route quality and safety.  

Highlighted in the recently published government policy paper ‘Freedom from violence and abuse: a cross-government strategy to build a safer society for women and girls’,  

“Safety is not just about reducing risk, it is about creating environments that foster confidence, dignity, and freedom of movement. Design and planning are critical tools in achieving this.”  

CIHT believes that the revised National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) does not adequately articulate this, particularly in terms of addressing women’s safety and gender inclusivity. 

As presented in the CIHT response to the NPPF reform consultation,  

“Safety is not just about collisions on the road but the perception of feeling safe in a place. Perceptions of safety are a particularly important consideration for encouraging people of all ages and abilities to walk, wheel and cycle. Places need to be safe and inclusive for everyone to navigate around, and travel to and from. It is not sufficient for developments to be safe and inclusive internally, consideration must be given to how improving connectivity to destinations beyond the site to encourage the perception of active travel as being safe.”