Preparation work under way for new street lighting in Sutton
Work is under way to install new street lighting as part of an ambitious project to improve the safety of women and girls in Sutton.
A survey has started to explore the best locations for the £85,000 project, with two evening patrols carried out to highlight where street lighting can be improved.
It is part of a partnership between Nottinghamshire Police, Nottinghamshire Council, Ashfield Council and Nottinghamshire police and crime commissioner Caroline Henry, who submitted a successful bid for £550,000 to the Home Office's Safer Streets fund.
The funding will see £70,000 invested in street lighting in target areas in Sutton town centre and £15,000 for enhanced street lighting along routes used by schoolchildren, in addition to a network of new and upgraded CCTV cameras, refuge cameras for women at risk or in danger and automatic number plate technology cameras to detect crime.
Chief Inspector Steven O'Neill, Nottinghamshire Police’s Ashfield and Mansfield neighbourhood policing lead, said: “This work is all about making things as difficult as possible for potential offenders.
“Street lighting plays a significant part, not only in helping people feel safe in our community, but it also helps make other measures such as CCTV cameras more effective.
“Improvements like these are vital in helping to make people feel safer when they're out and about in the dark.”
Street patrols
Council officers have been conducting site surveys and street patrols across the town centre, New Cross and Sutton Lawn areas to determine where lighting could be upgraded to improve visibility and reduce vulnerability after dark.
In the new year, new columns and improved LED lighting will be installed alongside new and upgraded lighting to illuminate vacant land and public footpaths in New Cross.
Mrs Henry said: “Almost nine in 10 of the women surveyed as part of the bid submission said poor lighting made them feel unsafe – in fact it was the most cited reason of all the circumstances increasing fear.
“We have taken these concerns seriously which is why this funding will deliver improvements along main routes from key venues and where women have identified feeling most unsafe.”
In the new year, new columns and improved LED lighting will be installed alongside new and upgraded lighting to illuminate vacant land and public footpaths in the New Cross area of Sutton.