{"id":11519,"date":"2019-05-15T12:01:25","date_gmt":"2019-05-15T12:01:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/?post_type=news_post&p=11519"},"modified":"2021-07-30T15:01:23","modified_gmt":"2021-07-30T14:01:23","slug":"britain-not-divided-new-research-finds-us-trust-neighbours","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/news\/britain-not-divided-new-research-finds-us-trust-neighbours\/","title":{"rendered":"Britain not so divided, as new research finds most of us trust our neighbours"},"content":{"rendered":"

The new Community Spirit Index from independent trust Power to Change<\/a> shows how community-run events and businesses are driving change and providing vital support in UK towns and cities, despite the divisive political climate.<\/p>\n

The report, released to launch Community Business Weekend (16-19 May), highlights cities where neighbourhood working is strongest and reveals that despite a polarised political landscape, at a local level the majority of us (57%) know and trust our neighbours.<\/p>\n

Leeds comes out top of the index, with 70% reporting they feel close to the people that live near them, followed by 68% of those in Grimsby, 65% of people in Wigan and 62% of people in Bristol and Newcastle.<\/p>\n

This sense of community spirit is being used as a force for good, channelled into events and community-owned businesses – driving positive social change.<\/p>\n

Over a third (34%) of the 1,200 respondents said working with others on local events is an important way to bring people together, while one in five (20%) feel embracing community spirit is helping unite their communities.<\/p>\n

A further 44% think communities are still good at pulling together in times of need and 53% take part in local projects already, including setting up, running and volunteering in community businesses<\/p>\n

And that sense of community spirit is growing. According to the Index, 40% of us want to learn more about how to help their community, one in three (29% ) want to become involved in a community business and 61% are keen to support community business owners and leaders.<\/p>\n

As well as volunteering, consumers are using positive spending to support their neighbourhoods. Almost half (47%) prefer to shop in a business whose profits are invested in the community if they can.<\/p>\n

Next week Power to Change launches its annual Community Business Weekend (16 to 19 May inclusive). The annual open doors event will see community businesses across England showcasing their work and inviting people to take a closer look at what they do and how they might get involved.<\/p>\n

Speaking about the Community Spirit Index and the Community Business Weekend, Power to Change Chief Executive, Vidhya Alakeson says:<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this time of huge uncertainty it\u2019s fantastic to hear that community spirit is still alive and well. People are more determined than ever to pull together for the common good. \u00a0We know from our work on the ground how important that connection is for a successful community business, and how much those businesses improve the lives of communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cCommunity Business Weekend is a great opportunity for people to reconnect with their local community and to learn more about the amazing work of the 8,000 community businesses across the country that are working to transform their local area.\u201d<\/p>\n

Do you know and trust your neighbours? Here\u2019s how the major towns and cities across the UK responded:<\/p>\n

Leeds \u2013 70%<\/p>\n

Grimsby – 68%<\/p>\n

Bristol \u2013 62%<\/p>\n

Wigan \u2013 65%<\/p>\n

Newcastle \u2013 62%<\/p>\n

Hartlepool \u2013 59%<\/p>\n

Ipswich \u2013 58%<\/p>\n

Plymouth \u2013 56%<\/p>\n

Birmingham \u2013 54%<\/p>\n

Liverpool – 54%<\/p>\n

Manchester \u2013 50%<\/p>\n

Brighton \u2013 48%<\/p>\n

London \u2013 45%<\/p>\n

Find out what\u2019s happening all over the country for Community Business Weekend 16-19 May on www.communitybusinessweekend.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We\u2019re living in divisive times – but Brits say their sense of community spirit is alive and well and helping rebuild fractured neighbourhoods.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":11522,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","inline_featured_image":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[339],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11519"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11519"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11519\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}