The loss of community spaces created “tinderbox conditions” for violence ahead of last year’s far-right riots, a new report has found.
A paper published by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) found that the loss of shared community spaces – from youth clubs and leisure centres to high-street pubs and piers – is leaving communities more vulnerable to far-right influence.
It said the closure of these spaces is forcing people into isolation, prompting them to spend more time online and pushing them towards the far right.
The report warned of a “pincer movement of abandonment and gentrification” that has gradually led to the loss of community spaces – such as the Southport pier, which closed in 2022 – and an increase in isolation in many areas.
Referring to previous research, the report said that 50 pubs permanently close in the UK each month, while an estimated 600 youth clubs shut down between 2012 and 2016. It noted that London lost almost 10 local authority-run community spaces a year between 2018 and 2023.
The violence in Southport, which spread through parts of England and Northern Ireland after the 17-year-old Axel Rudakubana attacked a dance class in the town, murdering three young girls, should serve as a “wake-up call”, according to the author of the report, Dr Sacha Hilhorst.
Dr Hilhorst said: “The Southport riots were a wake-up call – a stark reminder of what can happen when communities lose the places that once brought people together. In the absence of shared spaces, misinformation and hate can fill the void, creating tinderbox conditions for violence.
“Rebuilding local infrastructure isn’t just about nostalgia – it’s a vital bulwark against division and the dangerous pull of the far right.
“But communities are not apathetic. They are crying out for places to gather, to organise, and to belong. We need a new generation of institutions to help them do just that.”
The report said that the far right had “capitalised on Southport’s disrepair to sow disorder”, and noted that a “fight for investment in local amenities has garnered little attention” in the aftermath.
It suggested the introduction of a “21st-century welfare fund” raised through a so-called Amazon tax, whereby warehouses and distribution centres are subject to higher levies or online sales taxes.
It argued that online retailers who build “giant structures” – a demonstration of their high value – often do not contribute “sufficiently to the communities around them”.
A tax on companies with revenues over £1m could help generate “larger, more sustained resource for communities than current community regeneration efforts”, it said.
The report added: “If there is a thread connecting the high-octane events of late July [2024] and the slow local politics of the pier, it is the loss of physical spaces where we might come together, and the radicalisation of some of the digital spaces that have replaced them.
“There is an appetite for community action, as the campaign for the pier shows, but a lack of investment and space.
“In the absence of structures which might foster wider solidarities, many retreat into the sphere of the home, or worse, into ethno-nationalist fantasies of muscular sovereignty.”
A government spokesperson said: “The disorder that affected communities across the UK following the Southport tragedy highlighted the need for a new approach to community cohesion. It’s clear that central government has lacked strategic focus on social cohesion for many years, which is why this government is working to develop a longer-term strategy to tackle divisions in our communities and build common ground.
“One of the most effective ways to respond to the frustrations that fester is by improving peoples’ lives, and the places in which they live, and through our Plan for Neighbourhoods we are already investing £1.5 billion across 75 areas in the community services local people need and making real improvements they can see on their doorsteps and in their communities.”