‘Cantle report’ author to give St Wilfrid lecture on community cohesion

The author of the ground-breaking ‘Cantle report’ on community cohesion will give the final St Wilfrid lecture in the current series on Thursday 7 November at Ripon Cathedral.

In a talk entitled 'Making neighbours of the people of the world: moving from multiculturalism to interculturalism', Professor Ted Cantle will explore the nature of difference in the modern world and suggest that the 'politics of identity' has created and exacerbated divisions.

Appointed in 2001 by the Home Secretary to chair the Community Cohesion Review Team, Professor Cantle produced a report making around 70 recommendations. The concept of ‘community cohesion’ was subsequently adopted by the UK Government and many of the interventions which it produced have been used by local communities in this country and around the world.

Professor Cantle was Chief Executive of Nottingham City Council from 1990-2001 and prior to that Director of Housing at Leicester City Council. He is a visiting professor at Nottingham University and Nottingham Trent University and author of a number of books which unpack the concept of community cohesion and the importance of this work for the future of communities across the country. In 2006 Professor Cantle established the Institute of Community Cohesion (iCoCo), which has become the UK’s leading authority on community cohesion and intercultural relations.

Speaking in advance of the lecture, Richard Noake, Head of Theology and Religious Studies at York St John University and Chair of the St Wilfrid Lecture Committee said:
“This lecture series has been exploring the whole question of who is my neighbour and I think most would agree one of the key challenges for society and communities today is how we respond to the diversity within our communities in terms of culture and religion. It is a great honour to be welcoming Professor Cantle – the man who coined the phrase community cohesion – as the final speaker in our current lecture series. We look forward to him challenging us further in our consideration of what it means to be community.”

The 2013 St Wilfrid lectures bring together an exciting range of speakers who will challenge thoughts on the issues of community cohesion, multi-culturalism, inter-religious dialogue, school communities, lessons learnt from living ‘in community’, the European experiment and the voluntary sector.