Cohesive Communities in Leicestershire Cohesive Communities in Leicestershire Produced by the Research and Information Team, Chief Executive’s Department, Leicestershire County Council 1 Cohesive Communities in Leicestershire 2 Cohesive Communities in Leicestershire Acknowledgements This report was produced by the Research & Information Team, Chief Executive’s Department, Leicestershire County Council in collaboration with the Centre for Social Action, De Montfort University (DMU). The authors of the report are: Jon Adamson Thilo Boeck Important Note Senior Research Officer Senior Research Fellow Chief Executive’s Centre for Social Action Whilst every care has been taken to represent the data Leicestershire County Council De Montfort University and analysis fairly and accurately, the authors would be t: 0116 305 7419 t: 0116 257 7879 grateful for any corrections, amendments or additions e: [email protected] e: [email protected] to this report (as per the contact details below). Jon Adamson Additional contributions were made by a number of people from the July 2007 Research Team, Chief Executive’s Department of Leicestershire County Council. Details of the section authors are as follows: Section No. Section Title Author Contact details 2.3 Having a say and voting Alex Lea t: 0116 305 6803 e: [email protected] 2.5 A Shared Future for Leicestershire Jo Miller t: 0116 305 7341 e: [email protected] 3.1 Population & migration Felicity Manning t: 0116 305 7260 e: [email protected] 3.2 Ethnic segregation in schools and residential areas of Leicester City Jeff Hardy t: 0116 305 7342 & Leicestershire County e: [email protected] 3.3 Hate Incidents in Leicestershire Jeff Hardy t: 0116 305 7342 e: [email protected] 3.4 Leicestershire & the Vulnerable Localities Index Rob Radburn t: 0116 305 6891 e: [email protected] 3.5 Economic disadvantage (unemployment) & community cohesion Ian Neale t: 0116 305 8097 e: [email protected] 3.6 Fear of crime and the ‘worried well’ of Leicestershire Sharon Pye t: 0116 305 7413 e: [email protected] 3.7 Media reporting of cohesion: The Leicester Mercury Ian Neale t: 0116 305 8097/ 7366 Nicola Hansard e: [email protected] e: [email protected] i Cohesive Communities in Leicestershire Contents i Acknowledgements and contact details ii Contents iii Executive Summary Page Page 1 Introduction 4 Conclusions and next steps 1.1 A political and public concern 1 4.1 Overall conclusions 66 1.2 Defining community cohesion 3 4.2 Using this report 67 1.3 Understanding community cohesion: an overview 4 4.3 Next steps: 1.4 Researching Community Cohesion in Leicestershire 6 Challenging stereotypes and myths 68 Devolving Power and Neighbourhood Managements 68 Increasing Volunteering 68 2 Evidence of community cohesion in Leicestershire Responding to emerging new communities 69 2.1 Neighbourliness 8 Improving personal circumstances and perceptions 69 2.2 Diversity 8 2.3 Having a say and voting 9 5 References and consulted documents 70 2.4 Participation 14 2.5 A Shared Future for Leicestershire 17 3 The Context of community cohesion in Leicestershire 3.1 Population & migration 22 3.2 Ethnic segregation in schools and residential areas of Leicester 39 City & Leicestershire County 3.3 Hate Incidents in Leicestershire 42 3.4 Leicestershire & the Vulnerable Localities Index (VLI) 46 3.5 Economic disadvantage (unemployment) 52 & community cohesion 3.6 Fear of crime and the ‘worried well’ of Leicestershire 58 3.7 Media reporting of cohesion: The Leicester Mercury 63 ii Cohesive Communities in Leicestershire Executive Summary Community cohesion is a key issue for local authorities, particularly Contextual information about Leicestershire highlights the since the disturbances in a few towns in northern England in 2001 importance of the interaction between a number of issues— and in light of recent national and international events. migration, unemployment , fear of crime, vulnerable locations, etc.—which can impact on how cohesive an area is. None of these Community cohesion is a very broad agenda and means different factors alone determines how cohesive a community is. There is a things to different people, with different priorities in communities. complex interaction of socio-economic factors and local However, it is those things we share, our priorities and vision for circumstances which determines how cohesive a community is. the future which is most important. In a general sense, community Correspondingly, to enhance the cohesiveness of an area action cohesion is about perceptions of the local neighbourhood, needs to be taken on a number of different factors which impact on participation in the local community and the contextual issues a community and the circumstances and perceptions of people which can enhance or act as barriers to cohesion. living there. Cohesion is not about uniformity, conformity, normalisation or value On the whole, evidence in Leicestershire suggests that deprivation, consensus. It is not about suppressing conflicts and clashes: it ‘vulnerability’ and high levels of crime seem to have a negative should be about how to deal with them. We do not necessarily impact on community cohesion. However, this is not the case in all need to ‘like’ each other but we need to learn to get on and areas and in some neighbourhoods local action counteracts such respect each other. Cohesion should not hamper civil expression of factors and communities are more cohesive—residents have better discontent, disagreement or opposition. (Boeck, 2007) perceptions of the area and participate more—than other areas which score better on such measures. This report looks at some of the existing evidence of community cohesion in Leicestershire and at some of the key contextual Thus it is important that communities have a say in what the information about Leicestershire which is very relevant to priorities are for cohesion, and for other issues, and are involved in enhancing community cohesion. the decision making process of what is done in their neighbourhoods. It is equally important that organisations consider The evidence of community cohesion in Leicestershire shows that how they can deliver services which help to enhance cohesion in locally, as is the case nationally, the picture is a positive one where their local communities. Improving individuals’ personal overall perceptions of cohesion are good. The majority of people circumstances and changing perceptions for the better is key to think their area is a place where people from different backgrounds this. get on and feel that their neighbourhood is a good or very good place to live. Participation was much higher for informal Five key areas for future action emerge from this report: volunteering (unpaid help to friends, neighbours, etc) than for 1. Challenging stereotypes and myths formal volunteering (unpaid help to organisations and clubs) and 2. Devolving power and neighbourhood management there was a more positive picture of community cohesion in some 3. Increasing volunteering areas of the County than others. 4. Responding to emerging new communities 5. Improving personal circumstances and perceptions iii Cohesive Communities in Leicestershire 1. Introduction 1.1 background to this report future work programme of the Stronger Communities block of the Leicestershire LAA. A political and public concern This report is not a compendium of everything known about Community cohesion has become a key issue for local authorities community cohesion in Leicestershire. There are other reports over recent years, particularly since the disturbances in a few looking at specific issues around the county, such as student towns in northern England in 2001. Other national and housing in Loughborough, which are highly relevant to community international events since then—the war in Iraq, the terrorist cohesion and are referenced here but not included in their attacks in London on 7th July 2005—have also heightened concerns entirety. This report is not attempting to compile everything about community cohesion. known locally about communities in Leicestershire, nor would it be possible to do so. Our Shared Futures, the report produced by the Commission on Integration and Cohesion stresses the importance of diversity and This report pulls together several areas of research, some uses four key principles to tackle the challenges of integration and undertaken for the first time, considered to be highly relevant to cohesion. These four key principles are: community cohesion and to maintaining and supporting stronger • ‘shared futures’ - emphasis on what we have in communities in Leicestershire. The report draws on previous common, rather than differences; prioritising a shared research carried out on social capital for the Stronger future over a divided legacy Communities block of the LAA and has engaged the work of • responsibilities and rights for individuals and groups several academics in related areas. • civility and mutual respect • a commitment to equality; prioritising transparency and Dr. Ludi Simpson of the Cathie Marsh Centre for Census and fairness. Survey Research was engaged to carry out some work on population and migration (see section 3.1, page 22). Some of the Aims of this report work produced by Dr. Simpson and his colleagues is included in this report and a number of further applications for this work are The Research and Information Team were tasked with producing a currently being considered. report on community cohesion in Leicestershire. This report will contribute towards the evidence base for a Sustainable Community The Vulnerable Localities Index developed by the Jill Dando Strategy for Leicestershire and the next Local Area Agreement Institute of Crime Science to highlight possible priority areas for which delivers that strategy (starting in April 2008). This report, community cohesion has been applied locally for Leicestershire and along with other work carried out locally, will contribute to the its application is critically discussed here (see section 3.4, page 46). 1 ‘ Our Shared Future’ Commission on Integration and Cohesion.