Just 17% of people feel safe in city centre after dark

Lib Dem councillors in Sunderland are calling for an action plan after "appalling" and "totally damning" statistics showed that only 17% of people felt safe in the city centre after dark.

A survey of nearly 1,000 people living in Sunderland has revealed that just 17% of people living in Sunderland felt safe in the city centre at night-time.

The figures - from an Ipsos survey of residents in the city commissioned by Sunderland City Council and carried out in 2021 - were revealed to councillors during a meeting of Sunderland Council's Scrutiny Co-Ordinating Committee last week.

The statistic has prompted outcry from opposition Lib Dem councillors who are now calling on the Council to bring organisations in the city together to come up with an urgent action plan to tackle the issue and restore local people's confidence of going out in the city centre at night-time.

Commenting Julia Potts, Liberal Democrat councillor for Millfield and Thornholme Ward which includes the city centre, said:

"It is absolutely appalling to learn that just 17% of people living in Sunderland feel safe in our city centre after dark.

"This is a totally damning statistic which should be a wake-up call for Council bosses. Sunderland Council chiefs must now urgently put together a task force with the local police, business groups and other local organisations to work on improving perceptions of our city and provide reassurance that we have a city centre that everyone can enjoy on an evening.

"We can't have the vibrant city centre and the growing night-time economy that we all want to see in Sunderland if nothing is done to urgently get a grip of this problem and improve the way people feel about being in the town after dark."

The 2021 Sunderland Residents Survey was carried out by Ipsos between October and December 2021. 998 residents across the city responded.

Respondents wee asked how safe or unsafe they felt in the city centre after dark, with 2% saying 'very safe', 15% saying 'fairly safe', 18% saying 'neither safe nor unsafe', 32% saying 'fairly unsafe', and 33% saying 'very unsafe' - meaning that overall just 17% of people felt safe.