Look, I know that we Londoners get a bit of a bad rap when it comes to our friendliness (or lack thereof), but I’m still a tad surprised to discover that in a ranking based on neighbourhood connection, an east London locale landed itself at the very bottom of the list.
The ranking in question is based on existing government data from the Community Life Survey. But a new interactive index from the National Conversation project (an initiative run by a team of researchers at Oxford University) is putting these findings to the test. 296 local authorities across England have been included in the index, each of which has been given a score out of 100, based on factors including sense of belonging, loneliness, neighbourhood pride, and likeliness to chat to neighbours. A survey was then launched back in May in a bid to give people the chance to share what life in their local area is actually really like.
National Conversation’s interactive index gives people a chance to compare how friendly their local area is compared to the rest of the country – as well as put their two cents in on whether the government’s statistics truly reflect their neighbourhood experience. Whilst the project won’t officially conclude until the end of August (and so you still have almost two week to have your say if you so wish), as the rankings currently stand, the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham is situated at the very bottom of the list.
Barking and Dagenham scored a rather measly 8 out of 100 on National Conversation’s ‘Connection Barometer’. According to the statistics, the east London borough is the 2nd loneliest place in the country, with 10.% of residents saying they feel lonely ‘often or always’. And only 21.1% of survey-takers living in Barking and Dagenham said that ‘many of their neighbours can be trusted’.
On the other end of the scale, the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames earnt itself the 5th place on the ranking, with a comparatively staggering Connection Barometer’ score of 91 our of 100. I mean, I’d be feel pretty darn friendly if I’d managed to bag myself a gaff in Richmond, to be fair.
The ranking may well need to be rejigged once the National Conversation project crunches all the numbers after the survey closes on August 31. The survey’s full findings will be published by the Independent Commission on Community and Cohesion at the end of the year.
Jon Cruddas, Co-Chair of the Independent Commission on Community and Cohesion and former MP for Dagenham (the area that came bottom according to the government stats), 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 5 areas with the least neighbourhood connection (according to government stats) :
- Barking and Dagenham, Greater London
- Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire
- Ashfield, Nottinghamshire
- Mansfield, Nottinghamshire
- Ipswich, Suffolk
Find out more and have your say on your local area here.
