Place, Community and Connection in the Fens

It wasn’t meant to be like this. The collapse of the Soviet Union, the rise of a new kind of consumer-based globalisation, and the triumph of liberalism, with its open flows of ideas, capital, goods and people, seemed to usher in a new era beyond borders. Yet in recent years, the UK and its neighbours have begun to experience a crisis of borders. Inequality, anger and political disenfranchisement have re-energised the right at the expense of the left. Geopolitical crises, climate change and Brexit are also, in different ways, redrawing the territorial and legal boundaries of the United Kingdom. Debates around immigration and open borders continue to dominate politics, as Conservative immigration policy becomes increasingly led by the right flank of the party, extending border controls further into housing and healthcare.

Internal borders are also fragmenting: conflict with the devolved assemblies, pressure for Irish reunification and the drift towards regional devolution in England are each destabilising the borders and identity of the United Kingdom, paradoxically at a time when right-wing nationalisms are on the rise. Both political parties promise a more local, place-focused politics of devolution in order to tackle the UK’s persistently low productivity and relative economic stagnation to OECD neighbours, but details and funding are scant.

Borders are not merely states of mind or imagined communities, as anyone can attest when they are unable to cross them. But they can tell us something important about politics, identity and place. Borders are not just forms of exclusion, but also of protection and safety. Beneath each are complex and sometimes contradictory ideas about who and what society and politics is for.

This project sets out to develop a small piece of community research in Eastern England. Working with a range of local residents, agricultural labourers, refugees, community organisers and political figures on the right and left, it sets out to understand how experiences of borders and place can help us understand and improve social cohesion, participation, integration and contentedness in place. Using a mixture of interviews, reflections, and focus groups in three parts of the Fens, it will develop a new conceptual tool for policymakers in local and national government to better recognise and strengthen communities in places.