The NEL Women's Safety Charter Group held its collaborative workshop launch on September 3 at the Holiday Inn on Wellowgate, Grimsby, drawing enough attendees to split the event across two rooms. The aim: to shape campaign ideas and a programme of activity that builds on a new charter of pledges for businesses, organisations, and individuals, all focused on improving public safety for women and girls across North East Lincolnshire.
What the Charter Actually Contains
The charter's wording was unveiled in full for the first time at the workshop itself. It lays out five core pledges — specific commitments that a business, individual, or organisation can sign up to. Each pledge contains practical actions to follow through on. For example, under a pledge to help make streets and public spaces safer, businesses are expected to ensure their entries and exits are well-lit.
This is the kind of practical detail that matters. A pledge without actions attached is just a poster in a window. Whether these commitments actually change how premises are managed, how staff are trained, or how spaces are monitored at night — that is what residents should be watching for.
Who Started This and Where It Stands
The idea originated with the Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes Labour Women's Group and has been in development since February. The group has stated the initiative is intended to be cross-party and to appeal broadly. Speaking at the workshop, Sylvia Moss — the women's officer for the local Labour Party — connected the current effort to decades of local campaigning, referencing a group from 50 years ago, Grimsby Women's Group, who successfully campaigned for a women's refuge in the area. According to Ms Moss, male violence against women and girls is not going away.
North East Lincolnshire is not the very first area to develop a women's safety charter, but the group says it is among the first, and it drew inspiration from existing charters elsewhere. That is worth noting: this is not being built from scratch, and there are models to learn from.
Getting Pledges off the Paper
NEL Women's Safety Charter Group representative Amelia Augusta said the evening saw over 60 women from across the area — women of all ages, beliefs, and races — connecting, sharing ideas, and talking passionately about next steps.
The energy is clearly there. But this is where the work gets harder. A workshop launch is the easy part. The real test comes in the months ahead: how many businesses actually sign up, whether the pledges lead to visible changes in premises and public spaces, and whether the group holds signatories to account when commitments are not met.
For residents, this is worth keeping an eye on. If your workplace, your local shop, or a venue you frequent has not yet engaged with the charter, ask whether they plan to. Visibility and pressure from the community are what turn a pledge into practice. And if you have direct experience of a safety issue in a public space — a poorly lit car park, a venue with no clear reporting route, a stretch of pavement that feels unsafe after dark — that is exactly the kind of community intelligence this initiative needs to hear.
The charter is a starting framework. What it becomes depends on whether the spirit in that room translates into action on the ground.