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Introduction

The Vulnerable Localities Index (VLI) is a method for measuring community cohesion, by highlighting areas where social and economic conditions exist which could lead to a breakdown in the community. It is purely a scanning tool and should only be used as an indicator of where neighbourhoods with low level community cohesion issues might exist. The VLI was developed jointly by the Central Police Training and Development Authority (Centrex) and the Jill Dando Institute for Crime Science, in response to the riots which occured in 2001 in Oldham, Burnley, Bradford and Wrexham.

Methodology

Six indices have been used to calculate the VLI for Lancashire:

• Crime data – October 2006–September 2007
  • Burglary in a dwelling (rate per thousand population)
  • Criminal damage in a dwelling (rate per thousand population)
• Deprivation data – IMD 2004
  • Income deprivation
  • Employment deprivation
• Education data – 2006
  • % not achieving Grade 5 or more A*–C GCSEs
• Demographic data – mid-2004 estimates
  • Population of young people, aged 15–29 (rate per thousand population)

The combination of these indices produced an overall index that then identified the "most vulnerable" lower level super output areas (LSOAs) within Lancashire, when measured in relation to each other. (Lower layer super output areas have a minimum population 1,000, mean 1,500. They are built from groups of output areas (typically 4 to 6) and constrained by the boundaries of the Standard Table (ST) wards used for 2001 Census outputs. See the ONS Beginners' Guide to UK Geography page on super output areas.)

Caveats

This tool gives an indication of areas where community cohesion issues could exist but no fieldwork has been undertaken to see if community cohesion issues actually do exist. Also, the tool does not take into account other factors which affect community cohesion such as the ethnic and religious make up of the neighbourhood, whether different profile neighbhourhoods are next door to each other and inward migration to the area. This index does not compare Lancashire neighbourhoods with neighbourhoods in other parts of the country.

Results

There are 940 LSOAs in Lancashire and a VLI score of 200 or more is considered to be a high score. There are only 73 LSOAs (8%) which have a VLI score of 200 or more, indicating that they are at least twice as vulnerable to community cohesion issues as the Lancashire average. These are concentrated in the main urban areas.

Three LSOAs – one in Digmoor Ward, West Lancashire, one in Ribbleton Ward, Preston, and one in Brunswick Ward, Blackpool – score more than four times the Lancashire average. A further 13 LSOAs score between 300 and 400 and these are spread across the urban areas of Blackburn, Blackpool, Burnley, Hyndburn, Lancaster, Preston and West Lancashire. Click the links to see maps for each of these districts.

The concentration of vulnerable areas is highlighted by the fact that Chorley, Fylde, Ribble Valley and Rossendale have no LSOAs with a VLI over 200. Pendle, South Ribble and Wyre each have only one LSOA with a VLI over 200; in Pendle the LSOA in Waterside scores 226, in South Ribble the LSOA in Golden Hill ward scores 204, and in Wyre the LSOA in Mount ward scores 201.

VLI scores and ranks tabulated.

Figure 1 Vulnerable Localities Index in Lancashire

Figure 2 Vulnerable Localities Index in Blackburn with Darwen

Figure 3 Vulnerable Localities Index in Blackpool

Figure 5 Vulnerable Localities Index in Hyndburn

Figure 8 Vulnerable Localities Index in Preston

Figure 9 Vulnerable Localities Index in West Lancashire