Torbay at risk of community tension

Hope not Hate concerned

Torbay is one of the areas most at risk of community tension because of the economic impact of covid, according to a new report.

Anti-fascism and racism pressure group Hope not Hate has found Torbay Council is one of 52 local authority areas in England and Wales where community tensions are expected to be highly exacerbated by the fallout of the pandemic.

Authorities in the list include Mendip District Council in Somerset and other coastal councils including Dover and Blackpool.

Hope not Hate is a charitable trust and limited company supported by donations from large groups such as trade unions, as well as individual contributions. Its study found Torbay has three risk factors likely to result in increased hostility between different parts of the Bay’s communities:

• significant short-term impact from covid
• an economy ill-suited to recover from economic shocks
• higher than average hostile attitudes to migration and multiculturalism among parts of the population.

The study defines high covid impact when areas are in the top 20 for one of three criteria:

• a fall in gross value-added (GVA), which is the value of goods and services produced in an area
• the proportion of the workforce furloughed
• the proportion of people relying on welfare payments because of the virus.

Another measure, low economic resilience, considered whether GVA levels took until 2013 or later to return to pre-economic crash levels of 2007; unemployment figures in 2019; and the proportion of people with no qualifications. 

The survey also looked at attitudes of residents towards migration and multiculturalism, considering whether people feel positive about it, have moderate opinions, or are hostile.

They found Torbay tends to have more hostile attitudes to immigration and multiculturalism compared to other council areas.

Hope not Hate says Torbay, alongside 51 local authority areas, is where “stresses on social cohesion have been amplified most acutely by the economic consequences of the pandemic.”

It said that this did not mean that this would necessarily result in increased problems between communities, but increased the risk of issues significantly.

It added: “Efforts by central government to ‘build back better’ within these areas will need to work particularly hard to strengthen the social fabric; they will need to look beyond definitions of ‘levelling up’ which relate purely to economic infrastructure and to develop initiatives which strengthen cohesion and community resilience.”

The report comes not long after controversy in August when Torbay Council leader Steve Darling (Liberal Democrats, Barton with Watcombe) suggested Torbay’s ethnic mix wouldn’t be suitable for Afghan refugees. Having explained such migrants would be without support networks if they accepted public sector housing in the Bay, he later apologised.

Responding to the report’s findings, a spokesperson for Torbay said: “Throughout the pandemic, we’ve worked more closely than ever with the community and voluntary sector. This has helped to create not only new channels of communication but new networks of support. It’s these relationships that we will support and nurture so as to ensure they continue into the future.

“Our communities are very much involved in building a resilient and stronger Torbay.

“We are committed to do all we can on a local level to help residents and businesses recover as quickly as possible from the impact of covid-19 and to invest in Torbay’s future.”

They also said recent funding for Torquay from the Towns fund and from the Future High Streets Fund marked “the start of a significant programme of regeneration.”

More than £13 million from the Future High Street Fund is to be spent on Paignton’s town centre, but Brixham’s request for £20 million for harbour improvements was recently turned down. There are plans to try again to get the funds next year.