In 2022, Wandsworth launched London’s first-ever Night Time Strategy (NTS), focusing on night workers, women and young people. Using heat maps to identify quiet spots, the strategy aims to enhance safety, support economic growth and increase night-time activity. Collaborations with Transport for London, the Metropolitan Police, community groups and local businesses drive the initiative, creating a safer, more vibrant night-time environment across the borough.

Who is on the project team? (designer, consultants, etc)

Commonplace and Wandsworth Council 

Describe the context of the community engagement. Why did the engagement take place?

Following the tragic deaths of Sarah Everard and Sabina Nessa, changing demands of the highstreet at night and a rise in the gig-economy, there has been a clear need to rethink the night and help reduce inequalities. This new focus on the night-time led the London Borough of Wandsworth (LBW) to produce London’s first-ever Night Time Strategy (NTS) in 2022. Seeking to engage the local community as comprehensively as possible, and following a successful bid for DLUHC’s Proptech Innovation fund, LBW commissioned Commonplace to help gather community feedback on their experiences at night in an engaging way that reached those least heard, who are often most impacted by the night like night workers, women and young people. Feedback was collected via an online heatmap to inform new recommendations for the first draft NTS. The document was then displayed by Commonplace as an interactive document where people could add further comments. This solution was developed as an alternative to presenting long, often unengaging PDFs. The digitalised PDF was hailed ‘groundbreaking’ by DLUHC and considered best practice for using tech when engaging with the public on long documents. This increased engagement levels by offering an interactive, visual way for communities to share what’s important to them. Over 11,000 people visited the NTS engagement hub during the consultation process.

Who did you engage with and how?

Commonplace: Two heatmaps were launched, the first asked for place-based feedback on safety, the type of shops and services available and what people would like to see more of at night such as cultural events or night markets. The second heatmap was used as a tool to develop policy and had 6,000 businesses plotted with their opening times to show the level of activity and the types of services available at night. LBW was able to identify quiet spots and create plans to support economic growth and increase activity where necessary for safety. The community were also able to see the borough’s night-time opening hours landscape. Commonplace also developed a new ‘import tool’ to capture feedback from previous consultations held on platforms outside of Commonplace and incorporate it into the final report. Following the initial ideas map stage, the draft strategy was presented in an interactive format, where the community could go straight to the subjects that interested them most to provide feedback. Night Time Stakeholder Panels: Key business and resident stakeholders were asked to join a designated nighttime panel to workshop their ideas for improving the night. Queer Wandsworth workshop: A productive evening workshop was held with 25 LGBTQ+ community members to gather feedback on their specific needs for the night.

Have you continued the conversation? Will the community stay involved? 

The PDF document was used to present the final Night Time Strategy for Wandsworth for the project’s launch, which using Commonplace’s news bulletin was sent to over 400 people. Now that the Strategy has been launched, the council will produce an action plan and work with partners including Transport for London, the Met Police, businesses and community groups to deliver improvements. The NTS will also be considered by the council when making planning, highways, community safety and licensing decisions. The NTS will be reviewed annually to ensure it is still relevant and stays on top of night-time trends in the borough. Using the Commonplace platform, all those signed up to updates will be given an opportunity to comment at an allotted time every year, the format of this is yet to be decided. The features developed for the Wandsworth NTS were considered such a success that they were used again for the Richmond Night Time Strategy this summer. Other Councils and even international cities are following suit, using the features developed in this project to consult on their night times and other policy documents.