During the spring and summer of 2001 there were a number of disturbances in towns and cities in England (including Bradford, Burnley, Oldham and Stoke-on-Trent). The government's response was to establish a Ministerial Group on Public Order and Community Cohesion and also a Review Team to seek the views of local residents and community leaders. The Review Team produced a report (Home Office, 2001) which led to the widening use of the term ‘community cohesion’. ‘While continuing to emphasise the need to tackle inequalities, community cohesion programmes were radically different in that they attempted to build understanding between different groups and to build mutual trust and respect by breaking down stereotypes and misconceptions about the “other”.’ (iCoCo Foundation, 2022)

This definition was set out initially by the Local Government Association in its guidance for local authorities:

Community cohesion incorporates and goes beyond the concept of race equality and social inclusion.

There were critics of the idea of community cohesion, primarily arguing that the way it was interpreted focused too strongly on race and did not, for example, take on board and explore fully other issues that can lead to conflict, such as class, inequality and poverty (see for example Ratcliffe, 2012; Burnett, 2004).

However, organisations – especially local authorities – are continuing to use the term, linking it to inclusion (for example: Wrexham County Borough Council, 2022); to the Equality Act 2010 and the Public Sector Equality Duty (Tower Hamlets Council, n.d.); and also to their welcome for new arrivals – for example, at the time of writing, Birmingham has a community cohesion strategy in place, which highlights this work: