Stoke-on-Trent residents have little trust in the council and other agencies and feel their concerns are ignored, a major consultation has found.

More than 1,300 took part in a city-wide '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 it needed 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 that 'others' are receiving more than them.

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

The strategy states: "A consistent theme from the listening exercise was the low level of confidence people feel towards institutions and decision-makers in the city.

"Residents described a lack of trust in both what public bodies say, and in whether they act in the interests of the community.

"This lack of trust is compounded by people's perception that services are getting worse rather than better."

The listening exercise uncovered a 'particularly prevelant' belief that migrants have pushed up the cost of housing in the city.

While the strategy acknowledges a 'sharp' rise in rents over the past two years, it says the causes are 'more complex than migration alone', with inflation, low housebuilding rates being among the other reasons.

But the exercise also found high levels of trust in voluntary groups, sports clubs and faith organisations, a 'strong community spirit' and pride in Stoke-on-Trent's culture and heritage.

The new strategy includes 10 priorities setting out how the council and its partners can strengthen cohesion in Stoke-on-Trent.

These include giving people a 'real say' in decisions, such as through the use of 'participatory budgeting' so residents can influence public spending in their communities.

Another priority calls on partners to tackle disinformation and misinformation spread by local, national and international actors, which is 'creating divisions in the city and contributing to a widespread sense of unfairness, grievance, and prejudice towards some migrants and asylum seekers'.

The strategy also highlights the need to spot and respond to community tensions early, with co-ordinated action by agencies and training to help staff and volunteers recognise emerging issues.

Councillor Duncan Walker, cabinet member for safe and resilient communities, believes the council and its partners need to reach out to people and rebuild trust, while tackling disinformation.

He said: "A lot of people won't bother reporting things because they feel that nothing will be done about it. And it's not just the council, it's a lack of confidence in all statutory agencies.

"I see it a lot with anti-social behaviour, where people think there's not point in reporting incidents.

"There was a recent change where people can request a review panel if there has been three incidents of ASB in a six month period, but it doesn't seem like many people know about it, so we are looking at doing some work around that.

"There is a real problem with misinformation and rumours spreading on social media. I've seen that in my own area, where people thought that asylum seekers were being moved in, but it was actually Ukrainians.

"We aren't going to change things overnight, but we have to start somewhere. We have to find a way to rebuild faith and trust in the city."

Cabinet members will be asked to approve the new community cohesion strategy for adoption at their meeting on Tuesday.

They are also expected to request updates on the delivery of the strategy on an annual basis.