Leeds research is catalyst for major Safer Parks campaign
This September, researchers at Leeds are partnering with Keep Britain Tidy, and the Suzy Lamplugh Trust to launch Safer Parks: Stand Up Against Street Harassment.
Parks across the UK offer essential spaces for fitness, socialising, relaxation and active travel away from busy roads. But many women – approximately 1 in 6 – feel unsafe even in daylight, especially those who’ve faced harassment. As a result, women often limit park visits, avoid certain times or going alone, and change their behaviour for safety, thus missing out on the health benefits of these green spaces.
The right to feel safe in communal spaces
Dr Anna Barker, Associate Professor in Criminal Justice & Criminology in the University of Leeds’ School of Law and her team have been leading research into parks and women’s safety concerns for over 10 years.
Their recent study, funded by the Mayor of West Yorkshire, found that most women and girls feel unsafe in parks in some situations, with over half reporting unwanted comments or attention. Many felt unable to challenge harassment or rely on others for help or to intervene, which added to their insecurity.
Now, in partnership with Keep Britain Tidy and the Suzy Lamplugh Trust, Dr Barker has developed a free toolkit to encourage park managers, volunteers and communities across England and Wales to sign up for the free 30-minute online training in September or October, or request an in-person session for large groups.
Launching on 17 September 2025, the campaign seeks to build a community of active bystanders and make our parks safer, more inclusive spaces for all.
Disrupting harassment with the 5Ds
The training empowers individuals to safely and confidently intervene using the internationally recognised 5Ds: Distract, Delegate, Document, Delay and Direct – simple actions that can help someone feel safer and disrupt harassment.
The in-person training sessions use harassment scenarios tailored to parks – based on lived experiences from Dr Barker’s Safer Parks research – to engage participants in applying the 5Ds. They have already reached hundreds of staff and communities in West Yorkshire, Cardiff, Doncaster, Hartlepool, London, Rugby and Wigan, and the campaign is now inviting others to join the growing movement.
So far, feedback on the training has been overwhelmingly positive:
- 99% rated the content of the training as good or excellent
- 94% reported feeling extremely or fairly well empowered and confident to act as a bystander
An evaluation by Dr. Anna Barker and Dr. Rebecca Brunk in the Sustainability Service found that the in-person training significantly reduced bystander barriers and boosted participants’ confidence in using the 5Ds, with medium to large effect sizes across all measures.
We strongly encourage the parks and green space sector to empower staff with the ability and confidence to take action to make our parks safer for women and girls by completing the training and becoming active bystanders.
To ensure that everyone feels safe enjoying our green spaces, the full resources and toolkit are available here.
The resources include four engaging posters for display in parks and social media posts and graphics to help spread the word online.
Dr Barker worked with Alayna Hilmi-Phillips, a fine art student at the University of Leeds, to create the impactful resources.
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Dr Barker is a member of the Centre for Criminal Justice Studies. Anna is Deputy Lead of the Feminist Research into Violence and Abuse (FRIVA) network at the University of Leeds.
Listen to Dr Barker speak about safety in parks on the University of Leeds How to Fix podcast, learn about the art project based on her research, and read about the bystander training on the BBC.
