During the spring and early summer of 2001, there were a number of disturbances in towns and cities in England involving large numbers of people from different cultural backgrounds and which resulted in the destruction of property and attacks on the police. Whilst these disturbances were rightly condemned by all sides of the communities affected, the Government made clear its determination to establish why these disturbances took place.

Some areas, such as Oldham and Burnley, established local enquiries to find out more about the particular circumstances in their own communities which gave rise to these events. The Home Secretary’s response was to set up a Ministerial Group on Public Order and Community Cohesion to examine and consider how national policies might be used to promote better community cohesion, based upon shared values and a celebration of diversity. At the same time, he also established a Review Team, led by Ted Cantle, to seek the views of local residents and community leaders in the affected towns and in other parts of England on the issues which need to be addressed to bring about social cohesion and also to identify good practice in the handling of these issues at local level.

This report of the Community Cohesion Review Team (CCRT) sets out what they found in the places they visited and makes a number of recommendations for action which they consider will improve community cohesion and help to address some of the factors which lay behind the disturbances earlier in the year. I would like to thank everyone who gave up their time to meet and give evidence to the CCRT and to those who provided input either by writing to the team or responding to their questionnaires. All contributions were greatly appreciated.

I would also like to particularly thank all the members of the CCRT who put so much of their time, energy and wisdom into producing this enormously valuable report. It will undoubtedly help guide future policies and practice in a variety of different areas of both local and central government. I hope it will also be used by local communities themselves as they work to overcome the problems of the past.

John Denham
Home Office Minister of State

Click the link to access the Report: https://tedcantle.co.uk/pdf/communitycohesion%20cantlereport.pdf