Communities Secretary Hazel Blears has today published new guidance encouraging local authorities to better map their communities and the people that live there as part of efforts to monitor tensions and promote more cohesive and integrated communities. The guidance for Local Authorities Community Cohesion Contingency Planning and Tension Monitoring is a part of the government’s commitment to provide local areas with the support they need to respond to their own particular cohesion challenges. The guidance is not a reflection of unrest in the UK. Latest data from the Citizenship Survey shows that 81% of people feel that individuals from different backgrounds get on well together in their local area and that 83% agree that people in their local area respect ethnic differences. The guidance is an acknowledgement that tension monitoring plays an important role in helping those involved in promoting cohesion locally, to recognise, name, manage and resolve conflicts that may arise in the process of community change.

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12 May 2008
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