Among the many changes in the new NPPF, one in particular stood out: for the first time, national planning policy explicitly recognises the need to consider the safety of women and girls in the design of places. Previous iterations of the framework called for "safe" and "inclusive" environments but never specified safe for whom. That has now changed, and it matters.

THE BACKSTORY

This recognition has been a long time coming. The relationship between women's safety and the built environment is not a new area of concern, yet planning policy has historically reduced it to a narrow set of interventions - CCTV and lighting long being the default response. While both have a vital and positive impact, they fall short of addressing the broader reality.

In 2024, Dr Karen Horwood and Charlotte Morphet of Leeds Beckett University argued in a paper discussed by the RTPI that the profession needed to move beyond these surface-level measures towards a more holistic understanding of how the planning of our towns and cities affects women's safety. Their work drew on Amartya Sen's Capability Approach, a framework which shifts the focus from what is physically provided to whether people can actually access and use it. They included a brilliant example; a green space is not equally accessible to all if some people are too fearful to use it.

As Dr Pablo Navarrete-Hernandez and his co-authors put it in "Building Safer Public Spaces", women are in many ways excluded from participating in public space as a consequence of fear. From the mode of transport they choose, to the route home from work, to which gym they feel safe attending, to which park to take their children to, daily decisions are shaped by both lived experience and the perception of safety.

THE CAMPAIGN

These policy additions were not coincidental. As Susannah Walker, founder of inclusive places consultancy In Her Place, pointed out, this happened because a huge group of women put their knowledge and contacts together, wrote informed submissions to the consultation (including drawing attention to the government’s own VAWG policy), and made sure others did the same. Journalists, both men and women, also drew attention to the cause.

One woman in particular, Anna Sabine MP, has worked tirelessly on her campaign to ensure that women and girls are explicitly considered in national planning policy. 

Following an event in February, where she and others discussed the issue and signed a letter to the planning minister, Matthew Pennycook, Sabine continued to press the government to recognise the importance for women’s safety to be embedded in the national planning system.

SO, WHAT ARE THE POLICIES?

Public spaces are now required to be "safe, secure, inclusive, and accessible for all ages and abilities, including for groups such as women and girls", supported by measures such as clear pedestrian and cycle routes, integrated lighting, and building entrances and windows facing onto streets to provide natural surveillance.

Similarly, streets and routes must create places that are "safe, inclusive and attractive for all users, particularly for women and girls, for other groups who may be vulnerable to crime or the fear of crime, and for those with limited mobility."

Perhaps most significantly, there is now a requirement for developments to identify safety risks and proportionate mitigation, "especially where particular groups may be vulnerable to crime, or to the fear of crime – such as women and girls."

Crucially, the NPPF now doesn't just address real crime, but also the fear of crime, and that distinction matters. The fear of crime does not come from nowhere. It is built from lived experiences, from the stories of friends, family, colleagues, and from the news. For women and girls, particularly those living in cities, these experiences are constant. Making spaces feel safer will not only make them physically safer but help to reduce the stress and exhaustion that comes with navigating daily life in a state of heightened awareness.

THE TAKEAWAY

It is important to note that this is not a standalone policy on violence against women and girls. Rather, it brings the safety of women and girls explicitly into the wider planning conversation about good design, movement, public realm and creating places where people feel safe and confident. For planners and designers, it is another reminder that good placemaking is about more than appearance or architecture. It is about how people experience and use places, and whether they feel safe doing so.

For the first time, the framework reflects that. Now it is on all of us to deliver it.