More of Bath’s Night Marshals will take to the streets across the city this evening to give help to visitors and get them home safely.
The Bath Business Improvement District’s (BID) Night Marshal Scheme was recently hailed a great success by the Director of Public Health for BANES following a visit to watch the Marshals in action earlier this December.
Dr Bruce Laurence, who is responsible for promoting health and well-being, accompanied Bath BID’s Manager Andrew Cooper to spend the evening on the streets of Bath on one of the busiest nights of the year, and witness first-hand the value of the Bath BID Night Marshals in the city.
The BID Night Marshal scheme in the city was established by the Bath BID and is jointly funded by the BID and BANES.
The BID Night Marshal’s role is to assist people in the city centre in the evening, as well as manning a taxi system at Orange Grove, they also administer medical attention and ensure drunken behaviour does not get out of hand.
The knock on effect from the presence of the BID Night Marshals is a significant reduction in the pressure on our local emergency services, figures from the BID show that early intervention by the BID Night Marshal’s prevented the police being called to 581 incidents in the period 2nd August 2012 to 31st October 2013 and similarly medical attention ensured the ambulance service was spared 77 journeys.
On a typical week the BID Night Marshals help around 2,000 people and Andrew Cooper believes the city offers a far better and safer experience for their presence.
He said: “Having Night Marshal’s visible on the street gives everyone a sense a safety and some lightweight supervision which just helps the busy evenings tick over more smoothly.
“It is really important that a night in Bath offers a good experience and people want to return and enjoy the city again and again which is why we have invested in assisting those businesses that rely on the night time economy.
“The Night Marshal’s are part of our overall BID Nightwatch initiative which links the Marshals, the licenses and police by radio and CCTV and helps everyone spot issues early on and deal with them efficiently.”
