To ask how multicultural is the area you live in?

[Startingoveryetagain]

I'm seriously considering moving out of london, I'm mixed race and also have to DS's who are due to go onto secondary school in a couple of years.
With all the knife crime and violence going on I'm terrified they will get caught up in it all once they get a little older.

So I would like to get some information on where would be good to move to. I know it sounds awful, but I don't want them to be the only black child in the class as I do want them to have people around them who they cam also relate too, so where do you live and is it multicultural?

@thepeopleversuswork I completely agree with you and I think that's why I've been back and forth so many times on the idea of moving out of London, especially with racism. Both myself and my dc have experienced it, which is why I feel like I don't want them to be a novelty in school and for people to fear them.
I don't want to be in the sticks, it wouldn't work for me nor the dc.

I'm currently in temporary accommodation and am lucky that my council will pay for the rent deposit. I have enough saved for a move and to live off for a little while whilst applying for jobs. I also understand that as part of an incentive to move outside of london I'm able to go up a priority band and still bid for properties God knows why but that's how it seems to work.

Manchester/Leeds.

I agree with others it’s a big move OP. I would look on the outskirts of London first to see if there’s anything you like.

With regard to your last post, think very carefully then about where you want to live. The outer parts of London have a very different vibe from the inner estates so don't discount it due to the bad experiences of where you currently live. There are lots of parts of London where there is very little ' or no gang' culture.

If you have the pick then maybe the outskirts of another cosmopolitan city like Cambridge or Oxford.

I see Leicester has been mentioned a few times. It's multicultural and just over an hour to London. Some of the bigger cities in Yorkshire are also worth considering. Leeds and Sheffield
are also diverse.

@bringbackCabanas - I was at uni there in the early 90s too and agree it was very white at the time. But we go back once or twice a year and it seems really diverse now - at least in the centre - I don't know if the suburbs are still very white

I live in Cumbria. It's not very multicultural at all!! I teach in a secondary school of 1500 pupils and there are only 7 non-white pupils in the whole school. Those pupils never have someone of the same race as them in their classroom, and sometimes have racial incidents against them (they are dealt with very seriously, but that doesn't stop it happening in the first place!)

I am in Brighton and agree with Bemoreme21, there is a big drug problem here and the secondary schools aren't that great, now my eldest is secondary school, I have come to realise what a problem it is. He finds school life quite intimidating and not hugely challenging. Equally, my DD's primary school is quite central but not very diverse. I don't actually think Brighton is particularly diverse. We looked in to moving to Teddington before our eldest went to secondary school and I really wish we had made that move now, mostly due to the quality of schools on offer.

Another vote for Reading. Multicultural. Large town. Easy to get to London.

Rural Lincolnshire village all white British. DC didn't encounter more than one none white child until they went to uni.

I’m interested to know where you are, OP. I’m in South London (Greenwich) - I’m guessing you’re in Lewisham or Croydon? I can’t think of any other boroughs in South London where you’d be this worried about gang crime. I’d say there are some crime hit spots in London but it’s not that bad overall - there will be pockets in each borough that are better and worse so what about another area - that would surely be less drastic than moving somewhere new completely?

@thepeopleversuswork

OP I've posted and been crucified about this before but I stand by it: I can understand your concern about knife crime and violence but to be honest I would think quite carefully about moving somewhere "rural" if you want a better outcome for your kids. Particularly if you're black or mixed race.

A lot of people romanticise the idea that more rural places are safer for kids but that statistics don't really bear this out if you're non-white I think the downsides probably outweigh the upsides.

Quieter, more rural places will probably have better knife crime statistics: they will have less pollution and be prettier in all likelihood, if that's what you're looking for.

It depends where you're moving to obviously as some fairly small towns have a diverse population mix but people's attitudes in the country can be surprisingly backwards if you've grown up in a city. There's more racism and if not overt racism just a sense of not being especially welcoming to outsiders, its much harder for people who look different to fit in.

There are tend to be worse problems with drugs in seaside towns than there are in big cities, living standards are lower and there are fewer jobs. Plus your kids will far less choice of things to do.

I can totally understand the draw of the countryside and I don't want to scare you off if you've done your homework, but I'd think carefully about this. It may well be that the reality doesn't live up to the allure.

@thepeopleversuswork totally agree with this. My husband is from a small, rural town and we both agreed we would never bring up kids there. There is literally nothing to do so drug taking and petty crime is rife with teenagers, and then job prospects etc are pretty bad so youth unemployment is high. You wouldn’t necessarily know this from wandering round - on the face of it it’s quite a nice/inoffensive town - but I wouldn’t swap London for it. Obviously this is just one town but I think there can be a tendency to think crime in London (or any other big city) is worse than it actually is, as well as to think that crime in the countryside is lower than it is. And don’t discount the other benefits that cities have - like multiculturalism, things for kids to do (particularly as they get older/teens) etc etc. It’s a difficult decision with a lot to balance.

I'm in Colchester. We find it diverse. Especially with the university. We like it. Seems to be a lot of community groups etc. We've always felt safe here, more so than where I grew up in the South West.

Not rural Lincolnshire. Not a single non-white person in my village or the nearest small market town that I've seen.

Have recently moved out of London. We lived in a very mixed area, knife crime was also a concern as 2 stabbings had taken place on our street in the last couple of year. Moved to a commuter town not too far away. Not far from Cambridge actually. Very pleased we did. It's much nicer here. Much safer, which allows us more freedom. The school is more diverse than I was expecting it to be. There are several black / mixed race / Asian students in my DC's class. Though not so many students from other EU counties as there were at previous school.

There was a church school we looked around with hardly any non white students/ teachers and that would have been too different for my DC so we had to do a bit of research and chose a slightly bigger school that is more diverse.
We have a much nicer existence here. Life is more relaxed.

I’m in East Dundee, the area I live in has people of all nationalities, Particularly Eastern European and Asian families.

@Sasuma I'm in southwark inbetween peckham and Brixton.

I just feel that theres just too many people stuffed into one space and that's why there is so much crime going on. I'm not naive to think that crime doesn't happen anywhere else and the vast majority of inner city kids don't get involved in gangs, but the crap I've seen even over the past 3 months where I live has just made me want out.
As I'm typing this 3 van loads of police have just turned up and kicked someones door in.

@pinkdragons what area is you've moved to?

@Startingoveryetagain ah ok interesting, I wasn’t thinking of that area for some reason. That does sound rough and like it’s been pretty difficult for you. I think what’s really important about where you live is the immediate area and I guess that could be something to keep in mind where ever you move to - there’s rough parts of Cambridge and Oxford and Bristol IYSWIM, and there’s nice parts of Brixton and Peckham (it’s pretty expensive around that way too!) - hopefully you find somewhere that works for you.

Don't get me wrong I personally feel safe walking around all hours of the day and night, but to think of my dc as teenagers walking around here fills me with dread and I'm not one of those over the top parents.

I’m in mid Suffolk. We moved here from London for the same reasons as you: concern about knife crime, gangs etc, except our 4 DSs are white. It is not very multicultural at all. A couple I knew with the only mixed race DCs at the local primary school moved to Norwich because of racism 😕.

@Cannonfodder

I live just outside Leicester, which is minority white. Once you get just outside, the demographic reverses. My village is 10 mins from the city. Mostly white. Very few black people. A few Indian families / or mixed (white / Indian) and Eastern Europeans.

Agree with this.

In Leicester, everyone is a minority. The city is incredibly diverse, and one of the main roads, Narborough road, was highlighted as the most diverse street in the country in research done a couple of years ago.

I live in a village in Leicestershire county, which is very white, although a number of middle-class Asian families have moved out of the city into our village and the neighbouring villages in recent years.

Brighton?

Brighton & Hove’s Black & Minority Ethnic population is increasing. Our best data about the number of people in Brighton & Hove from different ethnic backgrounds is from the official census that is carried out every ten years. At the time of the 2001 census 12 per cent of our city’s population (29,683 people) were from a BME background. By the 2011 census 20 per cent were (53,351 people).

I’m guessing you’re in Lewisham or Croydon? I can’t think of any other boroughs in South London where you’d be this worried about gang crime

wut?

Many parts of Lancashire, such as Burnley, Oldham Blackburn and Rochdale are very diverse. Less so places like the Ribble Valley, the Lune Valley and Ramsbottom.

Good luck with your move!

Another vote for Bristol. Very diverse in some areas. Other areas v white working class. Some good diverse schools Cotham, Fairfield. North Somerset, South Glos not diverse at all.

Birmingham has some really nice areas. Lots to do.