Election 2023: Middlesbrough mayor urged to stamp out harassment

Beth McLean and her fellow volunteers go out at night in Middlesbrough

Voters in Middlesbrough are due to elect a new mayor on Thursday who will become the most powerful person on the council. All four candidates are men, so the BBC asked a women's street watch group what commitment they want from him to help people feel safer.

When Beth McLean set up Women's Street Watch Middlesbrough in November 2021, she wanted to ensure that all people felt safe.

After having her drink spiked as a student, she knows just how "horrendous" it is to feel so vulnerable.

Each Saturday, as the town's nightspots are teeming with life, she and a small group of female volunteers offer a helping hand as they patrol the streets until the early hours.

Beth McLean, director of Women's Street Watch Middlesbrough, uses a live locator on her phone so family and friends know where she is

"I would love to see a world where are not needed," said Beth.

"Sometimes when we are out patrolling we have quite quiet nights and we are giving out bottles of water, but sometimes we are helping in quite distressing situations.

"If we can make sure one woman gets home safely that's rewarding for me."

The group walk with people if they are being harassed, charge up mobile phones and hand out foil covers for drinks in the hope it will stop someone else from being spiked.

The group gives out a range of products to women in need that they come into contact with

While they have been fully supported by the girls and women they have helped, as well as most men, they have received abuse from a small few.

"They call us sexist, they call us quite derogatory terms for women, they ask 'what about men?'," Beth, 31, added.

"Sometimes they go around in cars and shout abuse at us as well, which is really intimating but it's a good thing there are a lot of us because of safety in numbers."

In 2021, following the murder of Sarah Everard by a serving Met Police officer, Cleveland's Conservative Police and Crime Commissioner carried out a survey of women and girls to ask how safe they felt, as part of a bid for safer streets funding.

Of those who responded, 81.2% said they felt unsafe.

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Beth rates her safety as four out of ten, and uses a live locator on her phone so family and friends know where she is.

She has called for the new mayor to take a "zero-tolerance" approach to harassment.

"We do see it a lot when we are going out patrolling, where women have said they have told someone they are being harassed and nobody has done anything about it," she said.

"If a male mayor takes on the role of women's safety and acknowledges that it is not just a woman's problem, it's everyone's problem, then that would massively help because it's leading by example."

Jess Taylor has encouraged other women to volunteer with their patrols

Volunteer Jess Taylor has been part of the group since 2021 and describes them as being like "big sisters" on a night out.

"As a woman you do fear crime a lot more," she said.

"It's not to dispute that men don't feel unsafe, of course they will fear being robbed or being attacked.

"I just think there is a very specific fear from women, with me personally, of being sexually attacked which is just always in the back of your mind when you are walking alone, whether it is in the day or the night - it is just the sad reality that we are living in at the minute."

She called on the new mayor to engage with women's groups.

"What's important for me, with a man due to be elected mayor, is for them to really listen and pay attention to what [we] are seeing around us because we are living it, we are working with it all the time - find out what you can do to help with your power."

With the role of elected mayor responsible for a range of initiatives, each of the four candidates was asked what one commitment they would give to ensure women and girls feel safer in Middlesbrough.

The incumbent, Andy Preston, Independent, said: "Everyone has the right to feel safe and confident when they leave their home.

"Although crime is falling in Middlesbrough it is still too high and everyone can play a role in fighting crime and keeping others safe."

Labour's Chris Cooke said: "This is a vital issue and I would want to work with women's groups to shape council policy so it meets the needs of women.

"Women should feel safe walking their own streets and at the moment a lot of them don't. It's a disgrace."

Independent Jon Rathmell said: "I would reverse the cuts Mr Preston has made in order to increase street warden patrols, additionally I would work cross agency to promote schemes such as 'Ask for Angela'."

Conservative John Cooper pledged to work with the police and crime commissioner, and added: "I am committed to ensuring that all residents of Middlesbrough, regardless of gender, feel safe and secure when out and about in our town."