Violence against women and girls ‘omitted’ from UK government’s latest national planning strategy
- GINA
- Feb 2
- 2 min read
The UK government has just released its draft National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), which outlines an overhaul in its planning strategy. However, these proposals, which cover urban planning from transport to housing, entirely ignore Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) in its strategy.
This omission has come as a shock to MPs and those in urban planning who emphasise the intricate relationship between urban environments and misogyny-driven violence against women and girls.
This relationship is further contextualised following the murder of Sarah Everard in March of 2021. The case of Everard, who was murdered by PC Wayne Couzens whilst out for a run, became a national conversation, igniting calls for a more comprehensive strategy against VAWG in the UK. The Government, Conservative at the time and under Rishi Sunak, looked to extend police powers in response to Everard’s murder. Since, Starmer has condemned the “appalling failure” of police vetting processes under the Conservatives, promising to extend measures, beyond police reform, to tackle the “epidemic of VAWG” the UK faces.
In December 2025, Labour released the second half of its Angioli inquiry (an inquiry into the murder of Everard) along with its VAWG strategy. In the strategy foreword, Starmer stresses tacking VAWG to be a “whole-of-government, whole-of-society effort”. How then, upon the release of the NPPF in the same month of the VAWG strategy, has VAWG gone unmentioned?
Urban planning and Violence Against Women and Girls are inextricably linked. Thoughtful design and planning of public spaces work not only on a preventative level, for example where adequate lighting or CCTV acts as a deterrent against perpetrators, but on a social level. It affirms the right of women to exist, safely, in public spaces.
The VAWG strategy details this relationship, stating that:
“Women and girls must both feel safe and be safe in every aspect of public life […] Well-lit streets, accessible transport, and thoughtful urban design can deter violence, reduce opportunities for harm, and send a clear message that public spaces belong to everyone.”
To not acknowledge the role that urban planning plays in designing public spaces which reflect the aims of its own VAWG strategy, clearly suggests that Labour are already failing to live up to claims of a “whole-of-government effort”. Susannah Walker, the planning consultant who first highlighted the strategy’s failure to mention VAWG, described it as “the most extraordinary omission.”
If the government’s aim to “halve violence against women and girls in a decade” is to be met, cross-departmental collaboration is paramount. This necessitates that urban planning be included in this effort.
-By Minette Venning
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