10 Cross-Community Integration Issues in Tower Hamlets

Daniel Nilsson DeHanasUniversity of Kent

Population Change

• Fastest growing local authority in the country: 196,100 in 2001, to 254,100 in 2011 (+24.6%)– Bengalis: consistently 1/3– White British: declining– ‘Other white’: +18,800– Diversifying growth (Indians, Chinese, Somalis…)

Churn: 29% are moving each year

Hard to Reach Groups

• Somalis and other new arrivals– Can be poorly understood, or only

reached via community leaders

• Bengali women– Lowest labour force participation

• White East Enders– Concerns must be taken seriously

• ‘Invisible’ residents

School Segregation

• Most Catholic schools per head of any London borough– White English self-segregation (Dench et al. 2006)

• 74% of TH pupils have a first language other than English (highest in UK)

• Yet Bengali girls are the highest performing in schools, and TH GCSEs are above national avg.

Parks and Public Spaces

• Highly built up area with fewer open spaces• King Edward Memorial Park under threat• Public spaces:– Idea Stores– Bromley by Bow Ctr,

St Paul’s Way Ctr…– Mosques, DepARTure…

We need not just ‘social goods’ but ‘public goods’ (Barry Quirk, Lewisham CEO)

Social Inequality

• 1 in 5 households earn less that £15K, yet…• Average salary of those working in TH is £58K• Inequalities (housing, income, health, etc.)

correlate with poor social outcomes • Social equality leads to “more self-confidence

to belong within a diverse patchwork of communities (cohesion), which then leads to gradual integration” (Sircar & Saraswati 2012)

‘Extremism’

• News of Muslim ‘extremism,’ but few arrests• The real extremes: – Anjem Choudary– EDL, Christian Patrols

• Media effects:– Muslims sense ‘secondhand Islamophobia’– On issues of immigration and race,

‘you are what you read’ (Ipsos MORI 2005)

Fear, Crime, and ASB

• Cross-community integration is built on trust, and undermined by:– ‘Postcode wars’– Anti-social behaviour, drugs, crime– Fear, lack of safety

• Responses: police; TH community champions• How can local civic pride be built?

Social Networks

• RSA - social networks in New Cross (2010):– Those who value neighbourliness have larger

social networks– ‘familiar strangers’ like postman and lollypop lady– Isolated people connect in places like Sainsbury’s

• Tower Hamlets cross-community links:– Near Neighbours– Community organising (TELCO)– Other ideas?

Funding Cuts

• Cuts to central funds to the local authority and third sector

• Still a vibrant voluntary sector in TH• What models of

innovative partnerships with Canary Wharf and the City?

10 Gentrification

• Big redevelopment: Shoreditch, Whitechapel• New affluent ‘wave’ of immigrants can be

among the least locally connected