Challenges that divide Council report lays bare ten problems facing Birmingham
THERE are ten major issues that divide the multi-cultural citizens of Birmingham, according to a new report.
The city council has published the latest version of its Community Cohesion Strategy which aims to break down Birmingham’s social barriers and bring people from all backgrounds together.
The 61-page document follows a report this summer which described the city as ‘super diverse’, stating Birmingham’s ethnicity make-up was soon to become ‘majority minority’.
More than 300 people have now taken part in a consultation.
The paper, which went before cabinet bosses on Tuesday, states there are ten major challenges to cohesion in the city: Birmingham has long been a city of many faiths, ethnicities and cultures but during the last 20 years has seen rapid changes to the populations of some communities.
There are thought to be more than 200 nationalities present in the city.
In 2011, 42 per cent of people were non-white British, a rise of 12 per cent in a decade. While there is a significantly more diverse make-up of under 18s – 60 per cent non-white British in 2011, up from 44 per cent in 2001.
Along with other factors, ethnic diversity has sparked fears around competition for jobs and services and created tension between people from different backgrounds. There are two types of ‘segregation’, ‘spatial’ where groups are divided by physical and geographic space, and ‘social’ where different groups live near each other but lead parallel lives. Ethnicity is not the only factor, different parts of the city have also become segregated by wealth.
Segregation across the city decreased significantly between the most recent censuses – 2001 to 2011 – but it still remained high in certain areas such as Washwood Heath, Sparkbrook, Sutton Coldfield and Bordesley Green while Edgbaston, Hall Green, Stockland Green and the south of Birmingham are understood to be among the most integrated.
Residents told the council a lack of community centres and spaces were a contributing factor.
While social media has had a positive impact in some ways enabling people in the same area to communicate but it has also served to weaken physical interaction between neighbours. Deprivation has led to some neighbourhoods feeling left behind, like Druids Heath which is the only council estate in Birmingham not to receive major regeneration despite it being more than 50 years old (a £43 million scheme is now on the cards).
The council has stated its own ‘flawed’ planning programmes have contributed.
High streets such as Erdington and Stirchley have become lined by betting shops, takeaways and off-licences to the point where special policies have been implemented to restrict certain types of business opening.
At the opposite end of the scale, wealthy communities can sometimes feel they do not receive the same level of investment as poorer locations. GCSE rates are now broadly in line with the national average but major differences remain among certain areas. Research shows white boys from poorer backgrounds underachieve more than those from other ethnic groups. While some respondents said there are a lack of role models in schools for pupils from Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) backgrounds.
One education expert has even argued the underlying issues which led to the Trojan Horse scandal remain and have got worse.
Results from 2016 showed pupils from Edgbaston, Sutton Four Oaks and Harborne were the highest achieving, well above the national average, while the lowest attainment levels came in Shard End, Kingstanding and Longbridge. Unemployment remains high in the city at around eight per cent compared to four per cent nationally.
There is a wider knock-on effect and it is estimated an unemployed person moving into a job paying the living wage is worth more than £14,000 to the economy.
While 12 per cent of Birmingham’s citizens do not have any formal qualifications resulting in a significant skills gap and many in low paid jobs.
The skills shortage is a particular problem among the Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities, Birmingham’s second and fourth largest ethnic groups. Birmingham is sharing in the same