A new national survey released by the DCLG shows that a majority of people in England are "satisfied" with their communities despite accepting that they have minimal influence on local decision making.

 

"It's good news that the great majority of people get on well with each other and are satisfied with their local area. But levels of volunteering and civic participation could be higher. We want to see communities all over the country in which high numbers of people are actively engaged in making their neighbourhood better and are giving something back" said Andrew Stunell, the Communities Minister.

The ministers believe that cohesion that already exists within communities could provide the ideal foundation to the voluntary and civic participation as envisioned in Prime Minister's Big Society.

The Government has reiterated its aim to devolve power to local communities and empower individual citizens so that they can take part in tackling local problems and shape their local communities.

The Communities Minister said "we are showing people that we trust them to know what will work best in their local area, we are also greatly increasing transparency and openness in the processes of Parliament and Government."

The survey results, covering the year 2009-10, indicate a large majority of people think they live in a cohesive community, agreeing that their local area was a place where people from different backgrounds got on well together. Over 16,000 people were interviewed in the survey process.