As a community, we call time on abuse.
In the wake of the tragic death of Sarah Everard in London in 2021, we launched our own It Stops Here campaign.
Our vision is to make Blackpool a safe place for women, children and families, residents and visitors alike.
We do not accept that women and girls need to take steps to protect themselves at home or in the streets from abuse or that they are responsible for the harassment, verbal and physical attacks they suffer.
As a result, the community has worked together to stand with women and children to develop the change and support required to make them safe.
Community support
Here are just some of the activities that have already taken place:
- 100 police cadets carried out safer street walkabouts to identify where improvements could be made
- Snakes and Ladders style board game created to educate young people how to stay safe
- New anti-suicide fencing installed at Houndshill and Talbot Road car park
- 50 members of the community have attended Green Dot training. Green Dot is a violence prevention strategy that empowers people to prevent sexual assault, domestic abuse and harassment
- Community protection warning and notices issued to people and places of concern
- New posters have been placed in bus shelters and car parks in problematic areas
- 25 publicly accessible trauma kits have been purchased for the town centre
- Introduced a Safer Taxi scheme for vulnerable people in the night time
- £10,000 of improved lighting in the town centre
- The use of a rapid response van to carry out full home safety checks on properties which have been identified as high risk due to domestic violence. A range of measures have been installed to deter offenders
- Security gates have been installed in the town centre to prevent aggressive beggars from congregating
Our third sector partners have attended many events over the last year sharing the It Stops Here message and gaining useful feedback from the community.
Green Dot programme
We recently launched the Green Dot Bystander programme which is part of our own It Stops Here campaign to make Blackpool a safer place for everyone.
Green Dot is a training programme focusing on the prevention of sexual assault, domestic abuse and harassment. The training provides people (bystanders or witnesses) with the knowledge, skills and confidence to help and prevent a violent act.
The idea of a green dot is used to show certain behaviours that promote safety such as pulling a friend out of a high-risk situation.
Any instance of abuse or harassment is a red dot and the aim is to replace it with a green dot which represents a safe intervention.
The training programme helps people to recognise a situation and to know they can defuse the situation instead of looking away.
The plan is to deliver the training in schools and colleges as well as to door staff, bar staff and taxi drivers around the town.
We are very proud to be the first local authority in the UK working towards a Green Dot community.