Strengthening community cohesion: LGA Briefing

• Councils have a vital role to play in building community cohesion and local government must be central to the national cohesion agenda
• The LGA is working with councils, government and partners on resources to support local work and local leadership.
• The LGA and the Belong Network have produced guidance on social cohesion. The guidance - Common Ground: Building Cohesive Communities provides local authorities with the tools to address the challenges they face and share good practice, with the goal of building cohesive communities. This guide helpfully sets out the relationships and partnership models that can be drawn upon to build and sustain social cohesion at a local level.
• In many respects, everything councils do is relevant to social cohesion. Council services contribute towards a shared sense of belonging, of communities at ease with themselves - an aspiration we all share. Councils recognise, social cohesion is not self-sustaining; it must be actively nurtured to endure. Too often, social cohesion is only noticed by its absence, slipping between policy priorities and falling through the gaps between services.
• Social cohesion is about place-making - creating communities where people live, work and spend time. We know that cohesive and socially connected communities are more likely to attract investment, support innovation and retain the talent that local economies need.   
• While councils have legal responsibilities to promote and maintain cohesion as set out in the Public Sector Equality Duty, it cannot be reduced to compliance alone. It has to be more than simply meeting a statutory duty. Cohesive communities are also resilient communities. In the face of climate change, terrorism, pandemics, economic uncertainty and an increasingly volatile world, that resilience is more important than ever.
• Building cohesive communities is not solely the responsibility of local authorities. Despite their role as place leaders, councils do not control all the factors required to address these challenges. 

Local government is central to the national cohesion agenda.

Across the country, councils are navigating the real pressures facing our places: economic uncertainty, demographic change, the impacts of global events playing out locally, rising misinformation, and, too often, the erosion of trust in institutions. 

When cohesion is strong, communities are resilient. When it is weak, councils are often the first to feel the strain. Everything councils do touches on cohesion.

From housing and planning, to community safety, culture, sport and libraries; from how we engage residents, to how we respond in moments of crisis. Councils are the place-shapers, convenors and trusted local leaders.

As leaders of local places, councils and councillors play a crucial role in promoting social cohesion. Their leadership—both elected members and senior officers—sets the tone for inclusive decision-making, prioritises resources, and ensures that cohesion is embedded across services and partnerships. 

Local authorities and their partners are at the forefront of responding to these tensions and this is made harder by pressures that reduce the police support available. But social cohesion is about much more than averting public disorder. It is about creating the conditions where everyone thrives and feels connected to one another. Therefore, it is important that local authorities, police, and partners prioritise responding to the needs of residents and drive joint action that restores trust and equips communities to face challenges together. 

Alongside their role in setting policy within legal frameworks and budgetary limits, councillors have a key contribution in representing communities and fostering trust, while officers provide the strategic and operational capacity to deliver programmes. Leadership by councillors and officers at all levels in a local authority is essential in building cohesive communities. 

Investing in social cohesion can deliver economic and social returns. When cohesion breaks down, the costs to public services and the wider economy are high; when it is strengthened, communities become more resilient and productive. Evidence shows that even modest investment in building trust and connection can create a virtuous cycle—stronger relationships lead to healthier, happier, and more engaged residents who work together to tackle local challenges and sustain thriving communities.

Situations where cohesion breaks down can be costly to the public purse. The House of Commons Home Affairs Committee estimated that the additional policing costs from the 2024 summer riots amounted to £28 million, with officers removed from their ordinary roles to maintain order. The final bill of the 2011 riots was estimated at around £500 million in addition to significant wider economic implications – loss in tourism spending over the following year cost the economy an estimated further £520 million.

The LGA and he Belong Network have produced guidance on social cohesion. The guidance - Common Ground: Building Cohesive Communities provides local authorities with the tools to address the challenges they face and share good practice, with the goal of building cohesive communities.

The guidance provides councils with practical and detailed support. This includes a clear summary of legal obligations, examples of effective tools and strategies for embedding cohesion in council services and points readers to further resources. It also sets out the practical steps required to develop effective cohesion strategies. Throughout, the guidance draws on examples of good practice from councils and their partner organisations. These evidence-based case studies show how organisations have gone about building thriving, connected communities and what they have learned from this process. 

The LGA is working with Belong to provide training around the guidance for members and senior officers.

The spread of online mis and disinformation is a significant threat to community cohesion. The LGA has produced a guide to this issue for councillors and officers. Last year we delivered disinformation training to over 500 officers. 

The Special Interest Group on Countering Extremism (SIGCE) is a local authority network funded by the LGA, which provides support to councils and partners on countering extremism and promoting cohesion.

Since January 2018 the SIGCE has worked with local authorities across England and Wales, bringing councils and partners together through seminars, roundtables, regional councillor networks and an online platform to build an understanding of activists and ideology, develop and share practice and tools for responding to extremism and cohesion challenges, disrupting activity, and engaging communities.

Councils play a vital role in responding to extremism and the SIGCE provides a vehicle for councils to learn from each other’s experiences in tackling difficult and sensitive issues and assisting one another in responding to local issues.