Thurrock – Community Cohesion
The Campaign Company (TCC) were commissioned by the Thurrock Local Strategic Partnership to prepare a communications plan to improve community cohesion in the area Thurrock is among the bottom ten local authorities in the country for community cohesion, and the LSP were keen to address this by refining their communications with local residents. To ensure that our recommendations were realistic, ambitious and targeted we undertook a range of in-depth research in the area.
Our staff interviewed twenty senior individuals from the Primary Care Trust, council, police, voluntary sector and faith groups. These interviews assessed current levels of knowledge about cohesion issues, the effectiveness of partnership arrangements and the degree of appetite for change. Some of the LSP's partner organisations were facing important challenges and undergoing rapid change during the research phase, so our interviews were confidential, sensitive and highly responsive. Being an independent outside organisation allowed us to gather insights and opinions which it would have been difficult for internal staff to access.
To gauge the opinions of local residents on community cohesion, we undertook insight groups involving a range of members of the public from Tilbury – an area of Thurrock which has a high incidence of community problems. These in-depth discussions were supplemented by short interviews residents in the shopping district. We produced edited thematic films of these interviews, which have become valuable tools for the LSP's internal learning and communications processes.
Our local research combined with our experience of working in similar areas on cohesion issues enabled us to produce well-informed and rigorous recommendations which have been welcomed by the LSP and its partners. These included suggestions for internal communications, strengthening partnerships, branding, event management, and most importantly micro- and macro-level communications with the Thurrock community.
Last Updated on Monday, 22 June 2009 21:05