Building Cohesion in Walsall

1. Building Cohesion in Walsall Ted Cantle Institute of Community Cohesion Associate Director IDeA

2. What Was Found in 2001 • Polarised and segregated communities • Parallel lives • Ignorance, fear and demonisation • Lack of honesty and openness • Lack of leadership and values • Many initiatives, but also part of the problem

3. But the world continues to change • In 1965 75m people lived outside home country, now 180m do so. • 600,000 Brits now live in Spain; 1st and 2nd homes in Croatia, S Africa, Bulgaria etc • 25m tourists to UK and millions from UK to ever widening list of countries • And globalisation in many forms, students, business, brands, internet, etc • Yet, riots in UK, France, Australia etc

4. And so does multicultural Britain • 4.6 million BME people, many 2nd/3rd generation; 9% England; 13.6% Walsall • Settlement Pattern little changed in 40 years, 50% BME in London – with other areas still mono-cultural • London over 300 languages in schools • New EU immigration (and from elsewhere) • Little information since 2001

5. The Changing Face of Multiculturalism • Proper response to racism/discrimination • Multicultural model no longer adequate • Focussed on difference not commonalities • Differences between BME groups too • More change will come from ethnic conflict, war, economic trends - and climate change

6. And Identity Politics • Diaspora and transnational identities • Competing claims of belonging • Faith and other ‘difference’ • Played out in local communities; grants, community centres, representation etc • New approaches, based on norms and values, transcending ‘identity

7. A sense of belonging….

8. Are We ‘Sleepwalking Into Segregation’? • Some encouraging signs in predominantly white areas – but still insularity • And ‘concentration’ of groups increasing due to ‘white flight’, natural growth and immigration. • Polarised communities • school segregation growing in some areas • Does spatial ‘segregation’ matter – can it be counter-balanced by other domains?

9. White Flight and BME Growth 1991-2001 • Birmingham: -90,000; +58,000 • Manchester : -43,000; +15,000 • Bristol: -17,000; +8,000 • Liverpool: -37,000; +4,000 • Leicester: -19,000; +19,000 • London: -340,000; +600,000 is it social class, natural change; or parental choice; and ‘black flight’? And since 2001?

10. Do We Manage New Settlement? • Resource conflicts are real - attitudes and fear of difference also real • Does increasing diversity undermine solidarity - can we/should we manage identity as part of ‘settlement’? • Does separate provision reinforce separation in an attempt to capacity build and promote cultural difference? • Whose role is this anyway?

11. The Challenge of Cohesion • To break down segregated communities – and the ‘fear of difference’ • A new agenda, need to embed • With less initiatives, more mainstream • New sub-regional (and national) groupings • and new structures – DCLG and the New Commission • CEHR and new infrastructure

12. New Architecture at a Local Level? • The history of RECs • New arrangements under CEHR? • High level strategic partnership • Context of poverty and deprivation or wider view? Clear Vision. • Clear strategy and plan – in LAAs, but integrated into mainstream services and voluntary sector activities

13. Within a political context • Growth of far right (in the West Midlands) • Other extremism • Moral or political issue?or business drivers • Cross sector alliances • Communications programme and toolkit • Balance between neighbourhoods and corporate vision

14. Performance Indicators and Intelligence • Community cohesion indicators – knowing what local people think – perceptions • Hate crime, tensions and disputes • Investing in positive relationships • And tackling inequality • Service planning – not just minorities and within minorities

15. Information and Intelligence • Crime and disorder – community tensions • A different view from young people on the street and in schools • The direction of the ‘choice agenda’ • Civil renewal and democratic engagement, not taken hold • Population churn and impact upon ‘Social Capital’ – and interaction

16. Understanding Social Capital • The institutional and social networks which enable communities to function collectively • But what ‘capital’ exists now? • Is it affected by popn. ‘churn’ and by diversity? • How do we build it & create ‘bridging’ social capital? • What layers are there – institutions, civil and formal and informal social - and who uses them?

17. Developing Mixed Communities • Planning mixed communities…or • …for ‘people like us’? • Not just about tenure or facilities • Catering for social and psychological needs…in ‘sustainable communities’ • Developing Shared Spaces – leisure, shopping, libraries, sports, arts, festivals • External and internal spaces

18. Parallel Lives • physical segregation of housing estates and inner city areas cities compounded by separate educational arrangements, community and voluntary bodies, employment, places of worship, language, social and cultural networks • no contact between different communities – compound ‘layers of separation’ • The response – intelligent clustering. All communities need support networks

19. The Role of Community Leaders • Making change, or hanging on to power and reinforcing divisions • Structural changes and funding regimes to incentivise people and orgs to co-operate and to develop cross cultural programmes • Being representative – and representative of whom • Focus on White/LTR, not just BME

20. Action in Local communities …. • Community Plan – vision for area • Employment – new labour market, changing skills and needs • Education – review admissions/change parental perceptions, promote mixed intakes; twinning; joint teaching; Citizenship Education • Housing – lettings and development programmes (and ‘Sustainable Communities’), and private sector too

21. Action in Local Communities ….. • Press and media – communications • Police and community safety • Youth – resources and cross-cultural • Sport, Leisure and Culture - opportunity • Health, services and organisation • Faith, the voluntary sector generally • LSCs, colleges and HE

22. Interaction – to break down barriers Examples • School twinning • Sports and arts programmes • Inter-faith networks • Youth projects • Older people – visits, cookery, dance • Civil society – school governors, councillors etc Shared experiences to develop understanding, trust and shared values

23. Conclusions • Multiculturalism has not failed but need commonalities and cross cultural contact • Leadership and Vision • Developing new approaches – breaking down segregation, promoting ‘integration’ and mixed communities • But building upon success

24. Contact Details ted.cantle@idea.gov.uk Institute of Community Cohesion