Memorandum by Leicester City Council (SOC
66)
1. BACKGROUND
1.1 Following the disturbances in Oldham,
Burnley and Bradford, Ted Cantle headed the Community Cohesion
Review Team's visit of these areas as well as areas where community
cohesion was deemed to be working well. Leicester was one of the
areas, which was cited in the CCRT report as demonstrating good
practice.
1.2 After the visit in 2001 Leicester was
invited to produce the first national community cohesion strategy.
As a necessary precursor to developing a new vision and strategy
for Leicester, the City Council commissioned the Improvement and
Development Agency (IDeA) to carry out a base line assessment
of how effectively community cohesion could be developed in Leicester.
The base line assessment lead to the production of a report outlining
a number of cross-cutting policy issues that Leicester will need
to address to build upon the work which has already been carried
out, as stated in the IDeA research report.
"Leicester has worked hard over the last
three decades to promote harmonious race and community relations
and can rightly claim to have achieved a great deal. However,
it is also recognized that major challenges will need to be met
in the future and that the City should be prepared to learn from
the experiences of others and from good practice elsewhere."
(Para, 1.4)
2. BASELINE ASSESSMENT—ACHIEVEMENTS
AND CHALLENGES
2.1 The key to Leicester's success in creating
and maintaining good community relations and as identified in
the IDeA research can be summarised as follows:
2.1.1 Valuing diversity as a positive asset and
characteristic of the City is clearly a prominent and consistent
theme within Leicester City Council. It is part of the Council's
Vision for the City, ascribed a high priority in the Council's
strategic policy documents and championed by the Council's political
leadership as well as its senior officers.
2.1.2 The Council was one of the first local
authorities to respond positively to the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry
and has won Beacon Council status for promoting Racial Equality
in 2002-03 and in the area of community cohesion in 2003-04.
2.1.3 Over 20% of the Council's staff are of
Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) origin and a great deal has been
done to ensure that services are culturally sensitive and respond
to the needs of all communities.
2.1.4 The Council also plays a prominent role
in a number of formal and informal partnerships concerned with
diversity. The role of the Multi-Cultural Advisory Group is particularly
noteworthy in this respect, bringing together representatives
of local government, the wider public sector (including the police),
the local media, faith and voluntary sector organisations to discuss
and address issues that might cause tensions in the City.
2.1.5 The role of the Council of Faiths and the
Faith Leaders Group should also be noted in this respect. There
is a similar determination to tackle inter-faith and cultural
diversity issues at neighbourhood level. Taken together, there
is underlying strength and resilience in the City's capacity to
manage its community relations.
2.1.6 Leicester has successfully settled integrated
and incorporated successive waves of incoming migrants over the
last four decades. Unlike the experience of other cities, the
majority of post war migrants settling in Leicester have been
of an entrepreneurial or professional background—mainly
from East Africa and the Indian Sub-Continent. This was repeatedly
stressed during research interviews and documentation as a critical
factor in understanding the nature of community relations in the
City.
2.1.7 After a tentative start Leicester's BME
communities have been able to make a significant contribution
to the manufacturing, commercial and cultural dynamism of the
City. On an everyday level, the cosmopolitan character of the
City is expressed in its shops, restaurants, fashion, music, arts
as well as its temples, mosques and churches.
2.1.8 More recently, the City has coped well
with the arrival of asylum seekers and refugees from Eastern Europe
and the Middle East.
2.1.9 However, the recent and unexpected arrival
of between 8,000 and 10,000 Somalis from European Union (EU) Countries
has put pressure on housing, education and health services and
has led to significant new challenges within the City.
2.2 Our baseline assessment also highlighted
future challenges to be considered for action by the City Council
and its partners.
3. PARALLEL LIVES
3.1 Residential concentration along ethnic
lines in Leicester is similar to that of other cities with large
BME communities. Seven of the City's 28 wards have an ethnic minority
population of 50% or more. These wards are in Leicester's inner
city. At the other end of the scale, six wards in the City's outer
areas have 5% or less ethnic minority households.
3.2 However, in most of the northern towns
and cities experiencing disorder during the spring and summer
of 2001, predominately white deprived estates shared common boundaries
with areas of BME settlement, resulting in tension and confrontation
on a daily basis. This is not the case in Leicester where predominately
white outer estates are separated from the inner city by relatively
wealthy wards or industrial areas.
3.3 Primary and Secondary schools in Leicester
reflect the residential concentrations outlined above, though
not rigidly. BME pupils predominate in inner city schools. Schools
on the City's outer areas and estates are predominately white.
3.4 There is also evidence of growing polarisation
in voting patterns between the inner city and outer wards.
3.5 Notwithstanding the City's efforts to
value and celebrate diversity, there is evidence to indicate that
the notion has come to be understood as celebrating BME cultures.
Some sections of the predominately white communities on the City's
outer estates have come to feel left out and ignored.
3.6 People's leisure, sporting and cultural
activities tend to be centred on their local neighbourhoods and
also reflected the ethnic make-up of local areas.
3.7 In these three key areas of social activity,
different communities in Leicester could be said to lead "parallel
lives" as described in the Cantle and other reports into
community cohesion in northern towns and cities and elsewhere.
4. REGENERATION
4.1 Leicester's regenerating strategy is
targeting resources at areas of greatest need in both the inner
city and outer estates. Nevertheless, perceptions of being ignored
or overlooked persist—particularly on the City's outer estates.
4.2 It needs to be said that given the sheer
number and complexity of different Government and EU regeneration
programmes and funding, most Local Strategic Partnerships in areas
with a high incidence of multi-deprivation experience difficulty
in convincing local communities that the allocation of regeneration
funding is both fair and transparent.
4.3 As illustrated by an article in the
October 2002 Issue of Leicester City Council's newspaper "Link",
the need to provide information on where regeneration and other
funding has been invested, is already recognised by the City Council.
These messages need to be consistent over time and part of a wider
communications strategy, which the Council is developing, based
on public perceptions gained from past and current surveys.
4.4 Such a strategy will also need to communicate
why new resources are being targeted at a particular area and
how and when similar problems will be addressed in other areas.
4.5 The research revealed that the lack
of contact between Leicester's different communities is a factor
in competition over scarce mainstream and regeneration resources,
with communities on the City's outer estates and the African Caribbean,
Pakistani and Bengali communities feeling that they have fared
less well.
4.6 The allocation of regeneration and voluntary
sector funding to address the specific needs of different BME
Communities was also thought to be a factor in sustaining divisions
between different groups.
4.7 Consideration will need to be given
to including community cohesion and addressing problems across
local communities as criteria for funding regeneration projects.
5. NEIGHBOURHOOD
RENEWAL
5.1 The Council has embarked upon an ambitious
project to make mainstream services more accountable to local
people. Its "Revitalising Neighbourhoods" Project is
in its second year of implementation with the appointment of 10
neighbourhood coordinators responsible for the engagement of local
people in local decision-making processes.
5.2 The project is still at its early stages
of implementation but will be critical to the process of community
development, accountability and communication.
6. HOUSING
6.1 The Council's housing department is
one of only 10 housing authorities to achieve "A" grades
for four successive years.
6.2 Has an "excellent" Best Value
rating for services to Homeless people.
6.3 Has won Beacon Council status for Housing
Repairs and Maintenance in 2000 and in the area of homelessness
in 2003.
6.4 The Refugee Housing Strategy produced
in 2002 is believed to be one of the first in the country.
6.5 Similarly, the success of the BLISS
(Beaumont Leys Independent Support Service) project providing
tenancy sustainment support linked to Sure Start and Single Regeneration
Budget programme (SRB5). Following a positive evaluation of this
scheme by the University of Leicester, will lead to a planned
rollout of the project City wide—focussing on tenants from
excluded communities and other minority groups.
6.6 Other positive initiatives include the
introduction of seven new Community Development Workers to support
established tenant associations and develop new ones under the
Tenants Compact. Similarly, the BME Housing Strategy for Leicester
launched in 2001 in partnership with other key housing partners
and work with the Leicester Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual (LGB) Centre
to address needs within these communities, which has led to a
LGB policy—the first in the UK. Both are examples of the
positive contribution the Housing Service is making to the wider
agenda in Leicester.
6.7 The pattern of residential settlement
by ethnic grouping in Leicester is not significantly different
to that of other cities with a large a BME population. Of the
City's 28 wards, seven have an ethnic minority population in excess
of 50%. Apart from these concentrations of ethnic groups are distributed
across the City. However, six outer area wards have 5% or less
ethnic minority households and a further four wards have 10% or
less BME households. It should be stressed that patterns of settlement—particularly
in wards surrounding the City Centre is constantly changing with
these communities becoming more mixed in terms of ethnic origin.
There is also a trend amongst all communities towards middle-class
migration out of the City into adjoining County Districts.
7. YOUNG PEOPLE
7.1 We have recently developed our first
unified Youth Strategy integrating many of the government's current
themes and strongly promotes more cohesive communities. Three
initiatives are particularly noteworthy: The Detached Youth Work
Team—targeting neighbourhoods where young people congregate;
The Youth Initiatives Project—empowering young people to
creatively address youth issues; and the Youth Impact Project—youth-led
evaluation of Leicester's services for youth. These, especially
the latter, demonstrate an ability to go beyond the norm, and
experiment with new ideas.
7.2 In the Cantle report leisure and sport
were seen as areas of social activity that could effectively break
down barriers, bring people together and engage youth positively.
Leicester has embarked upon a major programme of developing and
improving Leisure and Sports facilities throughout the City. The
City already has a strong traditional attachment to Sport. Indeed
48% of the city's population go to watch a sporting event at least
once a month (Leicester City Barometer Survey 1998). The following
major flagship projects are planned: Braunstone Sports Centre,
Peepul Centre, Cultural Quarter and Highfields Indoor Sports Arena.
In addition, sports facilities sited at six secondary schools
are to be enhanced and offered to the community in a way that
will help cement school/community relationships. Moreover, Leicester
City Football Club, in conjunction with Foxes Against Racism,
has launched an initiative to try and involve and increase the
participation of BME and other communities.
8. RESEARCH RECOMMENDATIONS
8.1 The IDeA research outlined four cross-cutting
policy issues for the City Council and its partners to address:
8.1.1 Vision and Leadership—To develop
a new vision on community cohesion, which would be owned by the
main political parties. The responsibility for developing the
vision and strategy should be vested in the local strategic partnership.
8.1.2 Young people—there is a need to involve
more young people in organising major events, inter-faith issues,
shared activities in and around schools and residential activities.
Specialist and new schools should take positive steps to attract
pupils from all communities. Twinning or grouping schools dominated
by different ethnic groups leading to shared activities—projects,
school visits, sport, leisure and parental involvement—should
also be considered. Flagship regeneration programmes should also
look to employ and train young people.
8.1.3 Engaging the City's outer Area communities—should
be a key objective of any new vision and strategy for developing
community cohesion in Leicester. In part, this may be a matter
of providing clear and better information challenging misconceptions
and rumours. More significantly, it may involve a strategic policy
focus on the needs and concerns of outer estates communities tackling
barriers to inclusion and participation.
8.1.4 BME Communities—will need to embrace
and help develop a new vision for community cohesion in Leicester
alongside ideas on valuing diversity and continuing to tackle
inequality and disadvantage—particularly in respect of the
Pakistani, Bengali and African Caribbean communities. A clear
commitment to involving more women and young people in leadership
roles is needed. Over time, Leicester's BME communities have built
up strong and vibrant voluntary sectors. However, many organisations
continue to focus on the needs of single communities rather than
on the needs of local neighbourhoods. Voluntary sector organisations
working with the local authority and other key agencies should
consider ways in which organisations can move towards addressing
needs across all communities. Cultural and religious intolerance
also occurs within Black and Asian communities. A great deal is
being done to tackle this at all levels within the City. Nevertheless,
BME communities should be as prepared to tackle intolerance within
different ethnic groups as they are to challenge racism. This
needs to be reflected not only within the voluntary sector but
also in other areas of community and faith organisation.
9. MEETING THE
CHALLENGE OF
COMMUNITY COHESION
IN LEICESTER
9.1 The national community cohesion agenda
has given Leicester an opportunity to acknowledge its many achievements
in continuing to work towards developing good community relations.
It has also allowed us to assess areas where we need to focus
on for the future. We believe that much of the work we have carried
out in the past few years can be disseminated to other local authorities,
which we intend to do through our Beacon, programmes. Each local
area is unique and possesses its own set of circumstances and
local attitudes. The key to Leicester's success has been the combination
of:
9.1.1 Strong leadership over three decades at
all levels of the community that has kept community cohesion as
a strategic priority.
9.1.2 An openness to explore strong opinions
and criticisms with a degree of humility about effective solutions.
9.1.3 A range of responses embracing a broad
social, political, economic, environmental and spiritual agenda.
9.2 In response to the joint national guidance
on community cohesion and our baseline assessment work we have
a continuing agenda for action, which includes:
9.2.1 Setting up a Project Board and joint Project
Team, chaired by the City Council Chief Executive, with our local
strategic partnership to drive forward our action plan for the
development of a community cohesion strategy.
9.2.2 Planning consultation workshops with residents
and service providers on the impact of community cohesion issues
in Leicester.
9.2.3 Planning to produce a new vision on community
cohesion and a strategy by December 2003, which will incorporate
feedback from the consultation workshops mentioned above.
9.2.4 Embarking upon the implementation stage
of our Home Office Pathfinder Programme, which has a focus on
young people.
9.2.5 Initiating an assessment of service provision
across the City to measure equity of service delivery across different
communities.
9.2.6 Beginning to harness the 2004-07 DCMS Creative
Partnerships initiative to maximise the opportunity for cross-cultural
activities within and between schools.
9.2.7 Developing a communications strategy to
tackle negative perceptions.
9.2.8 Planning the future integration of the
community cohesion strategy into the community plan when it undergoes
its major review in 2005-06.
9.2.9 Ensuring that one of the four cross-cutting
funding criteria of years four and five NRF funding has a community
cohesion theme.
| 
