Female school pupils in Keswick are demanding action to improve an unlit stretch of a popular footpath – warning it has become a no-go area for women walking at night.
The 350-metre section of the Keswick to Threlkeld trail, between the swimming pool and the Penrith Road branch of Spar, is frequently used as a shortcut for both pupils and residents who live south of the River Greta.
In the summer months it provides a welcome alternative to walking through the centre of town, but according to 16-year-old Izzy Jacobs and friends, in winter it is plunged into pitch darkness, and they are fearful of using it to walk home after school.
“It’s really frightening, because there are no lights and you can’t see a thing,” said Izzy, of Grange Park. “In the winter we don’t use it because you just don’t know who might be lurking there in the woods. They need to install some form of lighting now, before it’s too late.”
Now she has made a direct appeal to her local Keswick town councillor to get the path lit during the winter months. Cllr David Burn, who also lives at Grange Park, said he fully understood her concerns and backs the campaign.
“There is already street lighting beside the railway station and the car park at the beginning of the trail, so I don’t think extending the lighting would be too difficult,” he said.
“I have now made an approach to the Lake District National Park Authority asking that they consider doing this.”
Meanwhile Izzy’s mum Anna is backing her daughter’s call for action. “I wouldn’t go there after dark, because once you start off walking along the path you are committed and it is incredibly isolated. In the winter I don’t let Izzy go there after 6pm.”
Keswick town councillor Louisa Dunn said she wasn’t aware of any specific concerns over the stretch of path in question – but admitted that she often wore a head torch when walking along the trail at night.
“If young girls like Izzy are feeling unsafe, then it’s obviously something we have to look at, and it is good that they have raised these concerns with David,” she said.
Cllr Dunn added:“Keswick has a very low crime rate, but that doesn’t mean we should not take action if it is required. Women have a right to feel safe when they are out walking at night.”
In November last year, Cumbria’s police and crime commissioner received more than £116,000 from the Government’s Safety of Women at Night fund. But it was used to train 17 volunteers from Cumbria University as ‘Safer Streets Volunteers’ in Carlisle.
The fund also paid for two Safer Streets Officers, who work alongside street pastors.
Shocking figures from police reveal that between March 2021 and January 2022, a total of 425 sexual offences, 395 rapes, and 1,982 cases of stalking and harassment were reported by women across Cumbria.
In all cases, it represented an increase on the previous 12 months, with the number of sexual offences almost doubling.
Last year Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised improved street lighting and more CCTV cameras as part of efforts to help women feel safer on the streets at night.
It followed the murder of Sarah Everard, who was abducted as she walked home at night in south London in March last year. The case has led to widespread calls for action to make the streets safer for women.
Mr Johnson also called for a shake-up of the legal system to ensure more offenders were prosecuted.
“What we have to do is ensure we deal with the systemic problems in the criminal justice system to ensure that men – I’m afraid it’s almost always men – get prosecuted for rape and for crimes of serious, sexual domestic violence in the way that they should, and that we secure the convictions that we should,” he said.
