Residents feel 'ignored' and have 'little trust' in council, police and NHS

Finding revealed in report commissioned following Hanley riots

- Phil Corrigan

UNREST: Findings about the police and, inset, the city council and the NHS were unearthed by the report following riots in Hanley in August 2024.

STOKE-ON-TRENT residents have little trust in the council and other agencies and feel their concerns are ignored, a consultation has found.

More than 1,300 took part in a citywide 'listening exercise' commissioned by Stoke-on-Trent City Council as part of work to develop a new community cohesion strategy. Following the anti-migrant riots in Hanley and across the country in August 2024, the council decided to look more deeply into the underlying causes behind the unrest. The findings paint a worrying picture of a city where people lack confidence in statutory agencies, feel they cannot influence decisions that affect them and believe 'others' are receiving more than them.

A survey carried out as part of the exercise found 64 per cent of respondents felt that services such as the council, police and NHS understand their community's needs 'not very well' or 'not at all!