London-Haringey is an outer London borough which has a registered population of about 216,000. However, the real population figure is assumed to be some 250,000 since there was a 17% non-response rate to the census. The borough is characterised by its huge ethnic and cultural diversity. A Member of Parliament has described Tottenham (east of Haringey) as the most multi-cultural constituency in the UK and possibly in Europe. Some 193 languages are spoken - some 12% of the Haringey population comprises refugees and asylum seekers by a population estimated at about 20,000 people. The vast majority are in Tottenham.
These "new communities" join established working class and ethnic communities, since Haringey and Tottenham in particular has always welcomed people from other countries. The African Caribbean, Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities have been established for several decades now and have been joined in recent years by Turks, Kurds, West Africans, Iraqis, Somalis, and more recently eastern Europeans. Against this background, population mobility and transience are key issues affecting all services across the borough. The Tottenham area and the New Deal for Communities - Seven Sisters area - are both neighbourhood management pilots.
