The Purple Flag accolade has been awarded to Cardiff by the Association of Town and City Management (ATCM) for offering an entertaining, diverse, safe and enjoyable night out.
Purple Flag is the scheme that recognises excellent city centre management at night, similar to the Blue Flag for safe beaches and Green Flag for parks.
An application led by FOR Cardiff and involving partners such as South Wales Police, Cardiff Council, British Transport Police, Cardiff Licensees Forum, Street Pastors and a host of cultural venues and attractions was scored against the five core standards set by Purple Flag. These include being safe and welcoming, accessibility of the area and a diverse choice of leisure and entertainment activities available to all.
Enhancing Cardiff’s safety during the evenings and night time, FOR Cardiff has funded training sessions for club and pub staff on vulnerability awareness, brought in Night Marshals to help people get home safely at various taxi ranks and signed up 102 night-time economy businesses as subscribers to their CityNet Radio system – providing a direct line between clubs and pubs to a Police Officer monitoring the city’s CCTV. Other initiatives such as Club Crew, have helped students in and around Cardiff at night-time and to date have assisted more than 400 students struggling with mental health and wellbeing issues.
Adrian Field, Executive Director of FOR Cardiff said:
“Our mission at FOR Cardiff is to make sure the city centre is a welcoming and safe environment that can be enjoyed by everyone. That includes the Purple Flag hours of 5pm-5am. Cardiff can now officially be recognised for its varied cultural offering and its safety.
“FOR Cardiff are proud to lead on obtaining the Purple Flag award along with a multitude of partners and look forward to retaining it for years to come. We have a friendly and vibrant city centre that is worthy of this accreditation.”
Sarah Walker, Purple Flag Programme Manager at the ATCM said: “We were all excited to receive the submission from Cardiff for Purple Flag after hearing and seeing some of the great work that is going on in the area with FOR Cardiff and their strategic partners across the board.
“The key points that came from the overnight assessment carried out by the Purple Flag assessors were their strong partnerships and their key initiatives like Club Crew and Street Pastors to name but a few, in working towards and managing a safe and diverse evening and night time economy.”
Cllr Lynda Thorne, Cabinet Member for Housing and Communities said that the accreditation is long overdue, “It’s very important for residents and visitors alike to know the capital city of Wales offers both a safe and enjoyable night out by providing a vibrant and diverse range of entertainment to be enjoyed by people of all age groups and backgrounds.”
The application was submitted in October and Cardiff was assessed on Saturday 1st December.
