Our Vision of Cohesion
The 2007 report ‘Our Shared Future’, explored what cohesion and integration mean in Britain today and sought to develop a vision for the future. This vision is of a society where people are committed to what they have in common rather than what makes them different. We have adapted their definition of community cohesion to be relevant to our project in Oldham and Rochdale.
Cohesive communities are places in which people feel they belong. They should provide a strong foundation on which to build the emerging idea of the ‘Big Society’.
Community Cohesion is what must happen in all communities to enable different groups of people to get on well together. A key contributor to community cohesion is integration between new and existing residents.
Our vision of an integrated and cohesive community is based on three foundations:
- People from different backgrounds having similar life opportunities.
- People knowing their rights and responsibilities when living in a regular place. People know what everybody expects of them, and what they can expect in return.
- People trusting one another and trusting local service providers to act fairly.
And three key ways of living together:
- Shared aspirations for their area and a sense of pride and belonging.
- A focus on what new and existing communities have in common, alongside recognition of the value of diversity.
- Strong and positive relationships between people from different backgrounds.
Further detail on these points is on the Achieving our Vision page
Cohesion in the future
Building on the results of Cohesion Counts, we have continued to run a variety of projects aimed at building cohesion within neighbourhoods in Oldham and Rochdale.
This section outlines the background and achievements of these projects.
