Isles of Scilly has been named the friendliest place in England, while Barking and Dagenham ranks as the least friendly, according to a new index based on government data.
Rankings based on community life survey
All 296 local authority areas were ranked using data from the community life survey, measuring how often people chat to neighbours, feelings of loneliness and belonging, local pride, and levels of participation in civic life.
Scilly was followed by South Hams in south Devon, West Devon, Derbyshire Dales and Richmond upon Thames. The bottom five included Stoke-on-Trent, Ashfield, Mansfield and Ipswich.
National Conversation and Independent Commission
The index is part of the National Conversation, an engagement project capturing what thousands of British people think unites and divides us. Findings will inform a report later this year by the Independent Commission on Community and Cohesion, set up to tackle what it calls “the converging crises of social disconnection and division” in the UK.
Co-chaired by former Tory home secretary Sajid Javid and former Labour policy coordinator Jon Cruddas, the commission aims to better understand the country’s state of connection and cohesion.
Concerns over social disconnection
The foreword from its first report last year said “communal life in Britain is under threat” due to declining community infrastructure, weaker family units, growing inequality, dwindling trust in institutions and chronic neglect from policymakers.
The report also identifies threats turning social disconnection into something more dangerous, including mismanagement of immigration, cost of living pressures and social media-driven extremism. The commission says the UK is “sitting on a tinderbox of disconnection and division”.
Cruddas, former MP for Dagenham, said: “This index is designed to get us talking. And I nearly choked on my cornflakes when my old area came rock bottom. I think government stats miss a lot of what really makes an area tick, including my old town. But that’s why we have developed it, to spark a conversation – because what we really want is your view on your area.”
The National Conversation survey is open until the end of August.
