Summer 2009-Autumn 2011
The challenge
Outer London boroughs often have particular issues with cohesion, thanks to rapid population churn, and new communities moving out from the centre in recent years. This was especially true against the backdrop of the financial crash, in areas less used to migration.
Four outer London boroughs teamed up with the organisation London Councils, and asked us to work with them on strategies to address the issue. These were Sutton, Havering, Bexley and Barking & Dagenham, and the project was named the Capital Ambition programme.
How we approached it
We had already worked with Barking & Dagenham extensively on addressing cohesion, and the Capital Ambition flowed from the hypothesis we had developed during this work. There were four key areas of focus:
- Developing a pro-cohesion narrative which chimed with the values of local people
- Using peer-to-peer/ community communicator strategies
- Emphasising the communications role of frontline staff and providing training
- Working with councillors to re-engage alienated groups in the political process
The tender provided a menu of these different options, so each council struck a different balance based on what suited their area.
What happened
Levels of success and impact found different levels of success across different councils. But overall, evaluations found that the Capital Ambition approach had been successful in strengthening bonds of trust. In Bexley, for example, in the aftermath of a collapse in Thamesmead in the wake of a murder, a community communicator scheme was used to re-build relations with parts of the community where trust had evaporated (see a video here). There was also positive anecdotal evidence from Barking & Dagenham, where the methodology was used in the aftermath of the 2011 riots, and where the BNP were roundly beaten at the 2010 election. Following post-Brexit tensions, the final Capital Ambition report was re-circulated by London Councils.