Why planning must do more to protect women in rural areas

When we talk about women’s safety, the focus is often on policing, criminal justice, or individual behaviour. But one of the most important factors is often overlooked: the way our towns, villages and public spaces are designed in the first place.

Planning decisions shape how safe people feel moving through their communities every day. They determine whether a path is well lit, whether a bus stop is visible and connected, and whether public spaces feel open and overlooked, or isolated and intimidating.

For women and girls, these details matter enormously.

Nationally, 71% of women have experienced sexual harassment in public spaces. Many do not report it, not because it did not happen, but because they believe nothing will be done. That statistic alone should make us stop and think about how safe our public spaces really are.

In rural areas like my constituency of Frome and East Somerset, the challenges can be even greater. Many of the safety features people might take for granted in towns and cities simply do not exist. There may be no street lighting along country lanes. Public transport can be limited or non-existent, especially in the evenings. Mobile phone signal, something many rely on as a basic safety net, is unreliable or absent in large parts of the countryside.

This creates a very different safety landscape.

I recently heard from women across my constituency about their experiences. They spoke about being followed along dark, unlit roads. About waiting for buses in isolated locations with no shelter, no CCTV and no way to call for help. Some described giving up running or cycling altogether because it simply did not feel safe.

These are not isolated stories. They reflect a pattern, one that limits freedom and shapes daily life.

Too often, we treat safety as a matter of personal choice: take a different route, don’t go out after dark, carry a phone. But in rural areas, those choices are often not available. You cannot choose a well-lit path if there is no lighting. You cannot rely on public transport if there is no service. You cannot call for help if there is no signal.

This is not about individual behaviour. It is about the structures around us.

The good news is that we know how to design safer spaces. Better lighting, clear sightlines, and well-connected routes can all make a difference. Public spaces that are actively used and overlooked tend to feel safer than those that are isolated or hidden. Reliable transport reduces the need for long, solitary journeys.

These are not radical ideas, they are well-established principles of good design.

But too often, they are not consistently applied, particularly in rural areas. Safety is treated as an optional extra rather than a fundamental part of planning.

There is also a broader issue about who we design spaces for. Historically, the built environment has not always taken women’s needs into account. This can result in spaces that feel unwelcoming or even unsafe, particularly for girls and young women.

The consequences go beyond immediate safety. When women feel unsafe, they change their behaviour. They may stop exercising outdoors, limit their social activities, or avoid certain routes altogether. Over time, this can affect physical health, mental wellbeing and overall quality of life.

In rural areas, where options are already more limited, these effects can be even more pronounced.

We should not accept this as inevitable.

Planning policy has a crucial role to play in addressing these challenges. By putting women’s safety at the heart of how we design new developments, infrastructure and public spaces, we can create environments that work better for everyone.

That means thinking about safety from the very beginning, not as an afterthought, but as a core principle. It means ensuring that new developments are properly connected, well lit, and designed with visibility and accessibility in mind. It also means recognising the specific challenges faced by rural communities and responding to them directly.

This is not about asking for anything extraordinary. It is about ensuring that women and girls have the same freedom to move through their communities as anyone else.

The ability to walk home, to go for a run, to catch a bus without fear, these are basic expectations. They should not depend on where you live.

If we are serious about improving women’s safety, we need to look beyond individual actions and focus on the environments we create. Because the places we design shape the lives we are able to live.