Life in Lancashire Wave 12
| Purpose | The main questions areas looked at perceptions of their neighbourhood and the people they live amongst, finding out the things that people feel affect their quality of life, investigating how well people get on together, finding out about levels of involvement in the community, perceptions of Europe and Lancashire's position within it. |
|---|---|
| Subject |
Community cohesion Community engagement External relations (regional, national, in Europe) Quality of life |
| Commissioned by | Corporate Research and Intelligence Team, Policy Unit |
| Geographic area |
All of Lancashire |
|---|---|
| Method |
Questionnaire - postal |
| Consultation with |
Life in Lancashire panel |
| Date | 29/09/2004 - 08/11/2004 |
| Undertaken by | Corporate Research and Intelligence Team, Policy Unit |
Results
| Number in sample | 2724 |
|---|---|
| Number of responses | 2006 |
| Response rate | 73% |
| Key findings | Most panel members say that nearly everyone in their neighbourhood is of the same ethnic origin. Half of the panel agree that people from different backgrounds get on well in their local area. Only one in ten of the panel say there has been any change in race relations in the last 12 months. Panel members say they most often meet and talk to people from different backgrounds at the shops and work. More panel members trust people in their neighbourhood than know them. Over four in five of the panel agree they feel they belong to their local area. Five in six panel members feel they belong to Lancashire. The highest proportion of panel members agrees that they belong to England. Europe is the area respondents feel least allied to. Most of the panel say they 'know a little' about the European Union. More think the EU is a good thing than a bad thing. |
| Outcomes | Lancashire in Europe The results have come just in time to help us develop our next European Strategy which is a part of the County Council's corporate plan. Our strategy works to promote Lancashire abroad, to receive funds and become involved in projects, learn from other countries and keep up-to-date with European policies. By working with a bigger EU we will be able to better achieve these objectives, share best practice, develop business relationships and access EU funds. We will be making greater efforts to communicate a wide range of information on European affairs to the people of Lancashire; from success stories on EU bids won, lobbying efforts on Structural Funds or legislation, to topical issues such as the European Constitution. We need to work to raise awareness of the work that we do to 'speak up for Lancashire' in Europe. We will be using Vision, Lancashire County Council's monthly newspaper delivered to every Lancashire household, more regularly to promote the work of the European Team, the Brussels Office and other County Council departments. Success stories will also be promoted to local newspapers. We will also be making more use of our partners to communicate Lancashire's work in Europe. We hope to achieve this by working closely with the North West Members of European Parliament, our member of the Committee of the Regions and key members of Parliament who have influence on the UK's European strategy. We will be making greater efforts in the coming months to work more closely with Lancashire County Developments Ltd and business partners in the county to foster EU trade opportunities to help Lancashire's overall economic development. Getting people together Our vision is for communities to share common values, whilst at the same time valuing and celebrating the variety that exists in each community; we call this community cohesion. To achieve this vision we have a number of objectives that we are working towards achieving. We are working to raise awareness and understanding of the difficulties being faced in communities across the county by: * setting up training programmes to support and give guidance to people across the County Council; * giving presentations to our partner organisations so that our approach to community cohesion is the same; and * taking part in events and festivals to pass on what we have learnt to people and organisations across Lancashire. We regularly review the services we provide using research information. From this we produce strategies that allow us to improve how well people get on together. At the moment we are writing a three-year action plan. Its aims are to: * encourage people to take part in community life and have more of a say about local life; * raise awareness and understanding about different cultures; * communicate reasons for funding decisions better; * celebrate the variety in communities and bring them together through educational and cultural activities and events; * involve young people more; and * work with partner organisations. |
Project document(s)
Report(s)
Marked up questionnaire(s)
Contact information
For more information about this research contact:
Melissa Sherliker
01772 535019
Email: haveyoursay@lancashire.gov.uk