Wednesday 4 November 2026

Bradford Arts Centre, Bradford BD1

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Image credit: Sardaka CC 3.0

Safe streets and services are the foundation of a full life. Women and girls shape their use of public transport and public spaces around safety, both actual and perceived. If we design public spaces and transport services to enable full participation from everybody, it enhances individual lives and, at the same time, creates significant benefits for society.

Join us at Planning for Women & Girls to hear fresh and meaningful contributions on what needs to change, and how, so that public spaces are safe, and feel safe, for everybody.

As women with lived experience of violence perpetrated by men, the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime, Alison Lowe, and I are committed leaders in campaigning for justice for women and girls and working to prevent harm before it happens.

As the first woman metro Mayor in the country with Police and Crime Commissioner powers, I am privileged to be in a position where I can influence not just the police service, but other services and businesses that can help to keep women and girls safe. This includes my responsibilities in transport, skills, housing, and culture, and working closely with the business community to ensure change happens.

Together we can make West Yorkshire a safe, just, and inclusive place for women and girls.

Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire

Why it matters

A national emergency, and a sector that can act on it

Government has described violence against women and girls as a national emergency and has pledged to halve it within a decade. Transport and public space are where much of that fear is lived, and where the sector holds real levers to respond.

70% plus of women in the UK have experienced sexual harassment in public spaces, rising to around 86% of women aged 18 to 24.

1 in 2 girls aged 11 to 21 report feeling unsafe on public transport, and many change their behaviour to manage risk.

Around 36% of leadership roles in UK transport are held by women, who remain under-represented in core operational functions.

Up to 20% potential long-run rise in GDP per capita if gender gaps in employment were closed.

Five themes, one whole-systems day

Keynotes, case studies, workshops and panels across five connected themes. What works for women and girls tends to be safer for everybody, so the day joins design, safety, inclusion, culture and power into a single route towards change.

Theme 1:
Safe by design

How the built environment and services can be planned so that public space and transport are safe by day and after dark, and feel that way.

Topics:

Gender perspective in vehicle and infrastructure design
The night-time economy and travelling safely after dark
Safe parking and interchanges
Lighting, wayfinding and sightlines
Trip-chaining and planning for non-commute journeys
Active travel and the gender gap in cycling and walking
Safe and welcoming public spaces

Theme 2:
Report, respond, protect

What happens when women report, whether it changes anything, and how to keep both passengers and frontline staff safe. Shaped with policing and transport enforcement partners.

Topics:

Reporting and enforcement, and what women experience when they come forward
Frontline transport staff safety
Transport policing and partnership working
Being a useful bystander
CCTV, data and monitoring, used well and used responsibly

Theme 3:
Nobody left behind

Safety and access are not experienced equally. This theme centres the women most often overlooked, and the lived experience behind the statistics.

Topics:

Intersectionality, and why one-size solutions fail
Community voices on keeping local women safe on the network
Rural and small-town women
Transport poverty and gender
Young people and other protected characteristics
In her shoes: lived experience and case studies

Theme 4:
Men, allies and culture

Lasting change needs men in the room and cultural shift across organisations, not only women describing the problem.

Topics:

Men addressing male violence, in their own words
Allyship in the workplace, and what it actually looks like
Awareness and behaviour-change campaigns
Mentoring and cultural change

Theme 5:
Careers, money and power

The levers that move the sector: who gets hired and promoted, how budgets are set, and how authorities spend.

Topics:

Recruiting, retaining and progressing women beyond entry level
Gender-responsive budgeting: counting women so women count
Procurement as a lever, using buying power to drive safety and inclusion
Visible leadership and more women on the podium

Programme:

Programme

09:00

The Hall (2)

Registration: Tea & Coffee/Refreshments served in the exhibition area

09:30

The Theatre (G)

Morning Plenary

Welcome and introduction from Tracy Brabin, Mayor, West Yorkshire Combined Authority

Protecting the women and girls of West Yorkshire is one of the key commitments that The Mayor made when coming into power. She says: "As the first woman metro Mayor in the country with Police and Crime Commissioner powers, I am privileged to be in a position where I can influence not just the police service, but other services and businesses that can help to keep women and girls safe. This includes my responsibilities in transport, skills, housing, and culture, and working closely with the business community to ensure change happens."

Mayor Brabin will celebrate the work being done across West Yorkshire and the UK to challenge negative attitudes and behaviours, and to empower men and boys as allies, so driving real change in workplaces and across communities.

Followed by a panel / audience Q+A

11:00

The Hall (2)

Morning break: Tea & Coffee/Refreshments served in the exhibition area

11:30

The Theatre (G)

Safe by design

Safety in public space: Women, girls and gender diverse people

Kathryn Timmins, Principal Project Officer, Planning and Regeneration, Greater London Authority

Safer parks for women and girls

Fran Pontin, Lecturer, School of Geography, University of Leeds

Gender and safety in areas of new development

Alison Bradshaw, West Area Manager, Spatial Planning, Transport for London

Weston Room (G)

Careers, power and money

Gender mainstreaming across decision making and budgeting

Laetitia Butler, Feminist Urbanism Project Officer, Glasgow City Council

Mentoring for success

Sarah Naylor, CEO, Dukes Unlimited

Building teams that welcome, and celebrate, women and girls’ perspectives

Neil Taylor, Director, Integrated Transport Planning Advisory Group, ITP

Clocktower (4)

Report, respond, protect

Reporting and police partnerships
Kate Green, Head of Transport Policing and Community Safety and Suzanne Downey, Chief Superintendent, Transport and Policing and Crime Command (TPACC), Greater Manchester

Behaviour matters: engaging and responding

Nicole Stott, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence Manager for Bradford Council

13:00

The Hall (2)

Networking Lunch: Lunch served in the exhibition area

14:00

The Theatre (G)

Men, allyship and culture

Working with men -
a personal journey

Anjna Patel, former Chair, Board of Directors, British Parking Association

Leading a mixed-gender team: working with men to become strong voices
Helen Cansick, Head of Investment Planning for Safe and Healthy Streets, Transport for London

Weston Room (G)

Nobody left behind

Designing with women and girls

Sonia Fayyaz, Community Engagement Manager, Active Bradford

Active Travel Social Prescribing Pilot Project - Travel Confidence Training with South Asian women

Jaspreet Kullar and Sofia Mushtaq, City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council

Clocktower (4)

Workshop

Details will follow

15:30

The Hall (2)

Afternoon break: Tea & Coffee/Refreshments served in the exhibition area

16:00

The Theatre (G)

Afternoon plenary: how to have the necessary conversations

Aggressive, abusive and disrespectful behaviour to women and girls, and that which aims to marginalise them, must be challenged. It’s common to hear many men – and women – say that women commit violence and abuse too – why do we need to take action to support women and girls in public space, on transport and in society in general? This panel will take a deep dive into the conversations that need to be had - and that actions that need to be taken

Panel discussion and audience Q+A

16:45

Conference Close