Oldham has been named as one of the least racially integrated places in the country according to a report out today by the Think Tank Policy Exchange.
The town joins Boston, Lincolnshire, Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, Spalding, Lincolnshire and Bradford, Yorkshire in the top five.
The study marks the launch of its new unit on Demography, Immigration and Integration the think tank analysed the most recent Census data (2011), producing a list of the best and worst places in the country from the point of view of integration.
The publication of the inaugural Integration Index compares 160 places across England and Wales – with a minimum population of 20,000 and a minimum non-White British minority population of 15 per cent. The data examines ‘identity integration’ – how English or Welsh minorities living in that area feel – and ‘structural integration’ – how well minorities living in that area mix with other ethnic groups (working together, living in the same neighbourhoods).
The most integrated places—Amersham, Esher, Rickmansworth, Sutton Coldfield—tend to be prosperous suburbs or small towns around London and Birmingham with the largest minorities being successful Indians or Europeans.
A spokesman for Policy Exchange said “The least integrated places, by contrast—Oldham, Accrington, Bradford, Boston, Wisbech, Spalding—are either the post-industrial districts of Yorkshire and Lancashire dominated by people of Pakistani heritage or the towns of eastern England that have experienced large inflows of east Europeans.”
David Goodhart, Head of Policy Exchange’s Demography, Immigration and Integration Unit, said:
“Ethnic minority integration has shot up the political agenda in recent months and it is useful to know where the biggest challenges and the often quiet success stories actually are.
“As our Index shows the integration picture is a mixed one but in some places people, of all backgrounds, fear that society is changing too fast and that too many people are living parallel lives. We know that people of similar backgrounds tend to cluster together but we also know that a good society needs a sense of trust and mutual regard that crosses social and ethnic boundaries.”
“It is critical that this country retains its traditions of openness and individual rights and some sense of mutual regard between citizens. That is why the government should try to promote mixed communities.”
