Love thy neighbours? Many don’t even know who they are
GOOD neighbours are dying out with many people not knowing who lives next door, a survey reveals.
More than half of us are not friends with our neighbours and would not do them favours, borrow from them or trust them with spare keys.
The findings triggered a warning that Britain is in danger of “sleepwalking towards the slow death” of traditional neighbourhoods.
They sparked calls for Britain to establish American and Australian-style official Good Neighbour Days to reverse the decline of community spirit.
Research was commissioned by local network-building site Nextdoor, with 2,000 people being questioned nationwide for the Love Thy Neighbourhood report.
It found that 60 per cent of us do not know neighbours well – or even at all – and 75 per cent would not even let them look after a pet while away on holiday.
Nearly half said the area they grew up in felt friendlier and safer than their community now.
London was the worst area for residents not knowing their neighbours, while South-west England had the highest proportion of peo- ple who felt “disconnected”. The West Midlands had the best sense of community spirit, followed by Yorkshire and Wales.
Max Chambers, who co-founded the British branch of Californiabased Nextdoor, said: “We’re in danger of sleepwalking towards a slow death of neighbourhoods.
“While we are ever more connected globally through the internet, we are losing touch with those immediately around us.”
Social cohesion expert Dame Louise Casey, an adviser on the report, said terror attacks and tragedies proved how “powerful” the public could be if they pulled together for a common good.