Isles of Scilly Ranked England’s Friendliest Community in New Social-Division Study

A government-derived index of social division has placed the Isles of Scilly at the top of all 296 local authority areas in England for friendliness. The ranking is based on the Community Life Survey, which measures neighbourly conversation, loneliness, sense of belonging, local pride and civic participation.

The Guardian

The index combines data from the Community Life Survey with additional government statistics to produce a composite score for each area. It evaluates how often residents interact with neighbours, report feelings of isolation, express local pride and engage in community activities. The methodology is intended to give residents a benchmark for comparing their own experiences with national trends.

The Guardian

The findings will feed into a report due later this year from the Independent Commission on Community and Cohesion. The commission is co-chaired by former Tory home secretary Sajid Javid and former Labour policy coordinator Jon Cruddas. In its mandate, the commission aims to understand the state of social connection across the UK and to develop a shared vision for improving communal life.

The Guardian

Following the Isles of Scilly, the next-most friendly areas are South Hams (south Devon), West Devon, Derbyshire Dales and Richmond upon Thames. At the opposite end of the spectrum, Barking and Dagenham ranks as the least friendly, with Stoke-on-Trent, Ashfield, Mansfield and Ipswich completing the bottom five.

The Guardian

It identifies immigration management, cost-of-living pressures and social-media-driven extremism as current threats that could turn social disconnection into more serious division. The National Conversation survey, which remains open until the end of August, invites the public to share their views, with the aim of sparking dialogue and informing policy responses to the “tinderbox of disconnection and division” the commission describes.

The Guardian