Community Cohesion Strategy

A report from The Campaign Company

Summary

Objectives of the project

1.1 Barking and Dagenham's vision for the borough is 'Working together for a better borough'. Underpinning this is the need to build a cohesive community where:

The diversity of people's backgrounds and circumstances are appreciated
Co-operation between different communities is encouraged; and
Good community relations and understanding exists between local people

1.2 'One Community', the borough's Community Cohesion Strategy 2004-2007, expired in July 2007. The borough is keen to ensure that all stakeholders have had a meaningful role in developing the new strategy.

1.3 To this end, the council appointed The Campaign Company to lead the community engagement work associated with the development of the forthcoming strategy and to ensure members of the wider community had an opportunity to have their say in this process and constructively inform the final development of the community cohesion strategy.

What we did

1.4 We developed and implemented an engagement strategy over a 6-week period. It asked members of the community how the council could achieve the objective of:

'Building and supporting a strong community that can expect fair access to services, making Barking and Dagenham a place where people respect one another, and where together they can enjoy safe and peaceful lives and look forward to the future'.

What they said

1.6 Key findings include:

The majority view is that the key to making a strong community and a good place to live is the sense of togetherness
The 4 themes of: togetherness, respect, fairness and safety are broadly accepted by the population as being the key elements for a good and cohesive community
Black and minority ethnic residents and groups tended to be more optimistic and have a more positive perception of the area, the council and other agencies
Some people do not feel fully engaged with the wider community, and feel sceptical that things will improve
There is a common perception that access to services and resources is not fair
Improving the local environment is the most important thing that could be done to improve the borough. This is followed by improving safety
Some people were not clear about how the regeneration-led changes within the borough (e.g. Thames Gateway and Olympics) and the potential economic and social opportunities will benefit them and their families
White groups responded better to direct and interactive consultation techniques (i.e. someone at their door, in their club) rather than reactive ones (e.g. postal survey, invite to a meeting)
Once people were engaged they were prepared to enter into detailed and sustained dialogue

Conclusions

1.7 Create safe spaces where people feel that they have permission to express their concerns and grievances. It is the absence of such space that currently causes many to feel unable to articulate their true feelings.

1.8 There is a significant group of residents broadly representative of the entire borough that have agreed to participate in further consultations and engagement initiatives.

Contact

Heather Wills

Head of Community Services, Libraries and Heritage

Civic Centre

Rainham Road North

Dagenham

RM10 7BN

Tel: 020 8227 2786

Fax: 020 8227 2241

Textphone: 020 8227 2462

Email: heather.wills@lbbd.gov.uk|