Girls and women in West Yorkshire feel they need to “constantly check for threats” when using parks, a meeting has been told.

West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s Safer Parks research project is a £383,000 scheme to try to make the area’s parks safer for women and girls.

It involves academics working with people to see what changes could be made to existing parks to make them safer and more welcoming.

The Government funded project was discussed at a meeting of the Authority’s Place Regeneration and Housing Committee on Thursday.

But members were told that even if parks were improved, many girls feel that until the behaviour of others is changed they will not feel safe.

The findings of the project are expected to be announced in September, and at Thursday’s meeting Helen Forman, Urban Design Manager, said: “I can’t discuss all the findings, but they are vey interesting.”

She said girls said when they went to parks they felt they had to “constantly check there are no threats.”

The meeting was told that some girls spoken to believed they would feel safer if parks’ designs were change. However, Mrs Forman said: “Others felt that no matter how good parks are we still need to fix the people who use them and their behaviour – in the main, groups of men.”

Councillor Helen Hayden (Lab, Temple Newsam) said: “Girls will always be on alert unfortunately. It is sad to say that I teach my daughter differently than I teach my son when it comes to being out and about. It is a sad reality.”

When asked if skate parks were part of the study Mrs Forman said they were looking at skate parks, adding: “They are often spaces dominated by young men.”

Chair of the Committee Denise Jeffrey, also leader of Wakefield Council, said: “People need to feel safe.

“What is sad is that Councils have put more money into parks to attract people back after Covid.

“In my area we spent a fortune refurbishing a bandstand and it has been vandalised twice.

“It is about people’s behaviour.

“We asked police for a greater presence in the park. They sent a young policewoman and she ended up being attacked by teenagers.

“We need to do as much as we can, but I don’t know how we can deal with people’s behaviour.”

Mrs Forman said: “By bringing more people to parks it has a snowball effect of making the parks safer.”