New ‘safety measures’ to be introduced in Durham

They include ‘reviewing ways to tackle the availability of cheap alcohol’

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Proposed new “safety measures” have been announced following the death of Euan Coulthard.

The City Safety Group, comprising of representatives from the University, The Durham Students’ Union, Durham County Council, Durham Constabulary, and Durham Cathedral, met this morning to discuss ways to maintain the safety of individuals out late at night.

The committee also calls for an independent review of riverbank safety along the Wear, which is to be carried out by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents.

Despite criticism from students, many of the proposals appear to focus on curbing alcohol consumption.

The measures include working with the University and the Students’ Union to further educate students about staying safe on nights out, education for licensed premises on selling alcohol in a sensible way and to view lone customers as vulnerable, reviewing ways to tackle the availability of cheap alcohol in the city.

The introduction of a night-time scheme of student volunteers working alongside Durham Street Lights is also proposed, as well as the recruitment of drivers to reintroduce a night bus service and working with local taxi-drivers to give “at risk” students safer ways of getting home.

The measures suggested by Robyn Travers’ petition, backed by Prime Minister David Cameron and signed by over 15,000 people, many of them students, included “CCTV cameras installed alongside the river, locked gates preventing people from entering the area between certain times, better lighting or railings.”

A spokesperson for the group told the Durham Times they had agreed “an informed and measured response to the complex range of issues raised” and the measures would be “implemented without delay”.

A further meeting is set to be held within the next two weeks.