'What's the plan for protecting women and girls in Sheffield's green spaces?' - Reader's letter
Beulah Devaney from S8 in concerned for girls and women in Sheffield’s parks and green spaces...
What's the plan for protecting women and girls in Sheffield's green spaces?
In the last three weeks a school girl was raped near Cat Lane Woods and a woman in her 70s survived an attempted rape in Concord Park.
It's absurd and obscene that these attacks are happening in such quick sucession and we're yet to see any meaningful plan from the police for preventing these incidents.
The only avaliable advice seems to be that women should spend time in parks during the day, in well-lit areas. But both of these attacks happened during the day!
The girl was walking home from school and the Concord Park incident happened around 7am.
Keeping in mind that a spate of sexual attacks were reported in Meersbrook Park (close to Cat Lane Woods) a few years ago and the only response was more patrol cars outside the park.
Residents asked for more police inside the park and that didn't happen. So I ask myself, is this it?
In a city with as many beautiful parks and woods as Sheffield, and a city with such love for nature?
Are we just supposed to accept that women and girls can no longer spend time in green spaces without the very real threat of rape and assault? Or will the police come up with a plan to patrol these areas?