A comprehensive new ranking of every local authority in England has revealed the nation’s friendliest place.
The Isles of Scilly has topped the list, beating 295 other local authority areas to claim the number one spot.
The index assessed all 296 local authority areas, using the Government’s community life survey data to measure factors including neighbourly interaction, loneliness, sense of belonging, civic engagement and local pride.
South Hams in south Devon, West Devon, Derbyshire Dales and Richmond upon Thames completed the top five.
At the other end of the table, Barking and Dagenham was named England’s least friendly area, followed by Stoke-on-Trent, Ashfield, Mansfield and Ipswich.
The ranking forms part of the National Conversation, a public engagement initiative that has already gathered the views of thousands of people across Britain on what brings communities together and what drives them apart.
Responses gathered through the project will feed into a forthcoming report by the Independent Commission on Community and Cohesion.
The body established to address what it calls “the converging crises of social disconnection and division” in the UK.
The commission is jointly led by former Conservative Home Secretary Sajid Javid and former Labour policy coordinator Jon Cruddas.
Its stated aim is to develop a deeper understanding of how connected and cohesive the country truly is and to build a common vision for living well together.
In the foreword to its inaugural report, published last year, the commission warned that “communal life in Britain is under threat”.
It pointed to the erosion of community infrastructure and institutions, the weakening of family structures, rising inequality, falling public trust and long-term policy neglect as contributing factors.
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The commission also flagged more immediate dangers that risk transforming social disconnection into something far more volatile, citing poorly managed immigration, cost of living pressures and extremism fuelled by social media.
Britain is “sitting on a tinderbox of disconnection and division,” the commission concluded.
Mr Cruddas, a former MP for Dagenham, said: “This index is designed to get us talking.
“And I nearly choked on my cornflakes when my old area came rock bottom.”
He added: “I think Government stats miss a lot of what really makes an area tick, including my old town.
“But that’s why we have developed it, to spark a conversation because what we really want is your view on your area.”
The purpose of the index is to prompt residents to compare their own lived experience against the official data.
The National Conversation survey remains open until the end of August.
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