Help us make our beautiful city safer – for everyone

We have brought together a number of community groups and voices to achieve a common goal of improved safety for all, achievable with the implementation of innovative and sustainable lighting in and around Sheffield’s green spaces.

The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of green spaces to both mental and physical health, so we want to ensure that these spaces are freely accessible to all, at any time.

A petition asking for our city councillors to address lighting issues in Sheffield’s parks was first made four years ago after a 21-year-old woman was sexually assaulted, after dark, in Weston Park.

It received more than 800 signatures, but no sufficient change was ever made.

The Park Light campaign is now backing the petition created by Our Bodies Our Streets in January 2021.

This calls for the implementation of innovative, warm, and consistent lighting through Sheffield’s parks in order to ensure everyone can safely access green spaces.

The petition has so far been signed by thousands of supporters, but it needs further backing from Sheffielders to put it high on the city council’s agenda.

The leader of Mums United, a charity aiming to tackle youth violence and child exploitation in Sheffield, has given her full support to the Park Light campaign.

Sahira Irshad, aged 42, said: “I fully support the campaign and think it is really important we get behind the petition and do what we can to make sure our parks are safe.”

The campaigner, also recognises how a lack of lighting in parks creates a dangerous environment and heightened vulnerability for all.

She said: “It is really important for them to be well lit during the night because they are a hotspot area for gangs.

"That is where they go, they do not want to be in any busy, well-lit areas.

“If you do that throughout the city, get all the poorly lit areas lit up and make them appealing to families, the gangs will stay away.”

Mums United are holding the ‘Enough is Enough’ march on Saturday May 22 to express frustration at a cycle of violence in the Abbeydale Road area.

Sheffield Hallam MP Olivia Blake has also expressed her support for the collective campaign calling for improved lighting across Sheffield’s parks.

She said: “Action to make our city's parks safer is long overdue.

“Rather than Ministers starving local authorities of funds, we need a proper package of funding to provide councils with the resources they need to introduce better lighting and ensure everyone feels safe travelling through Sheffield's parks at night.”

The Park Light campaign alongside Our Bodies Our Streets has outlined the following to discuss with the city council:

* Secure the installation in and around Sheffield’s parks of smart lighting solutions which are warm-coloured, layered, and sustainable.

* Amplify the voices of Sheffield’s community leaders, experts, and victims of crimes after dark.

* Promote community consultation regarding issues of safety.

* Ensure the people of Sheffield feel safe enough to enjoy our plentiful greenspaces at all times of the day, without fear of violence of harassment.

* Make the city more welcoming for all.

* To support our campaign, please sign the petition at https://www.change.org/p/sheffield-city-council-ask-sheffield-city-council-for-lighting-in-our-parks.