Cheltenham Festival: Police patrols increase to protect women

Police will be carrying out more patrols to ensure women's safety during the Cheltenham Festival.

According to a survey run by the organisation GlosWomen, there is an "atmosphere of intimidation" during race week, which began on Tuesday.

Alex Chalk MP has said the extra strip clubs that open in the town during the event bring a "menacing tinge" to celebrations.

Gloucestershire Police said it is being "proactive" in tackling misogyny.

Jess from Gloucestershire Women's Liberation Collection (GWLC) said women had received "unsolicited comments from men" in addition to men making "grunting noises at them" and "physical, sexual assaults" during the horse racing event, which attracts tens of thousands of visitors to the town.

Regarding the survey, she said: "Women were looking at more preventative measures and cultural change, so I think there's some really good schemes that look to keep women safe in pubs and clubs.

"'Ask Angela' is a good example of that but I think for the women that we spoke to it's about taking a step back from that and actually looking at cultural change."

This year, Gloucestershire's police and crime commissioner (PCC) Chris Nelson has said that the force is increasing its patrols in Cheltenham.

"We're focusing the patrols on hotspots like transport hubs, pubs, and walking routes," he said.

"We've got our TV operators in our force control room monitoring all the cameras.

"We've got a roving CCTV van, we've got blood testing equipment to spot perpetrators trying to spike women's drinks and we've educated door staff to call out misogynistic behaviour."

It is Cheltenham MP Alex Chalk's opinion that sexual entertainment venues make behaviour towards women "worse" during race week.

In January, Cheltenham Borough Council approved a bid to renew the license of a second sexual entertainment venue (SEV) while the festival is on.

Mr Chalk said: "There's already a lot of people spilling out of bars and a festive atmosphere - and that's absolutely fine.

"But a festive atmosphere can acquire a somewhat menacing tinge if there are these SEVs, and people coming out of them 'well refreshed' is something a lot of women find themselves not comfortable with."

Mr Chalk added that stamping out violence against women and girls should be an "absolute priority".

"If it was the case that the [GlosWomen] survey showed everyone is fine and that the atmosphere was great, then I don't think it would be necessary to automatically worry about it but the statistics show something far darker.

"I think tackling violence against women and girls should be an absolute priority nationally but also locally and if there are levers that can be pulled to make women feel safer, they should be pulled."

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