How deprived is your area?

Sago

Dorisdodar

Most deprived...but I knew that...living in the north of England is tough but you just have to get on with it and except most investment goes south.

I don’t find living in the North tough at all, I have lived as far South as Hampshire and as far North as Newcastle upon Tyne and a lot of places in between.

Give me the North any day.

Indeed, Sago

"Living in the north is tough"

Bizarre.

True, we don't have the swathes of "Home Counties" very high priced posh areas.

(I am btw in "north" assuming you are not referring to Scotland, or it this an "all-English thread" Dorisdodar?)

But each Northern Town has its very well to do areas, its medium middle class areas, its cheaper semi lands, its trendy bits, its terraced but well looked after areas, and then deprived areas too by no means all council.

I live in East Kent, as described by grandmattie. My small seaside town is flanked by areas of high deprivation - hence the busy food banks there.
It is not a North,/ South matter.

I think there is a huge difference between slums as mentioned further upthread and a deprived areas which doesn’t necessarily mean homeless on every corner, dingy houses, dirt all over the place and rampaging teenagers. It simply means cheaper housing, less jobs and perhaps in some cases poorer education ( ie not so many young going to uni, more dead end jobs or unemployment, more food banks etc)

I grew up on a council estate in a prefab the lowest form of housing Everywhere was clean, the kids of normal behaviour, we weren’t sitting on the street in rags begging
It is so easy to label

Wyllow3...what's bizarre about my post? Of course not all of the North is deprived...East Lancashire has quite a few children living in poverty which is above average for the country so life is tough for them.

Sago so you haven't lived in the North all your life then unlike me who has.

Have any of you heard the term Northern Powerhouse this gets banded about usually before a general election...We get promised more investment to try and level up the North/ South divide a couple of million here and there to keep our votes. I'm proud of my roots and if you feel I've put the North down I apologise it wasn't my intention.

It’s all such an oversimplification. The graphic is from the report showing what’s being measured.

I can walk five minutes from my road, judged to be in the highest percentile, along the main road to the next road off, which is in the lowest percentile. Our postcodes are a few letters apart.

What’s the difference? One is owner-occupied and the other is former council housing but now primarily in the hands of private landlords charging three times or more the rate of social rent to people who may need housing benefit to pay it.

It’s the same area. We have the same good supply of shops, both local and City centre. We have lovely, well-kept parks and good leisure facilites. We have the same good GP practice and hospital facilities. We have the same good transport network, get on the bus at the same stop. Children go to the same good schools. Employment levels are high with a wide range of work locally. Average wage is said to be £35,000 but there are also a lot of minimum wage jobs in retail and service sectors. It’s a commuter city so high London wages create market distortion.

It isn’t the area which is deprived, only some people who are and have been adversely affected by housing policy and wage inequality.

I live in the north, ex mining area, I live in a middle class village which is surrounded by pockets of very high deprivation. Those in the areas of deprivation don't have access to the same services or schools that I did. If the families were fortunate and could drive they would understandably aim to get their children into the village school. I don't think discussing some of the issues faced in the north is putting the area down. Dh works in regeneration, he would say some of the most serious areas for concern are the seaside towns.

We live in Birmingham, parts of which are very deprived and parts are affluent. Most areas, like where we are, are neither deprived nor affluent.

Thanks for pointing that out PaynesGray. It should be obvious that it's people who are deprived rather than an area, but it's not always clear.

Moreover, there are some areas where more people are deprived for a number of reasons (few employment opportunities, low quality housing (which attracts poorer people), etc). It's also possible to be personally deprived yet live in an affluent area.

I don’t live in a deprived area, although it’s in the north!

... some of the most serious areas for concern are the seaside towns.

It’s no coincidence that the three most high profile (initial) Reform MPs stood and were elected in Clacton. Boston and Skegness and Great Yarmouth. Seaside towns.

I bookmarked this local data profile for Clacton published in March 2024 by the then Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. Its now overstamped withdraw March 2025 but the data remains.

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67cf11d775d299c71177bd1a/_WITHDRAWN_Clacton-on-Sea.pdf

You can see the LSOA data there:

Over 60% of Lower Layer Super Output Areas (LSOAs) in Clacton-on-Sea are in the top 20% most deprived in England in terms of Education, Skills and Training, and Health Deprivation and Disability.

Health Deprivation and Disability (34.3% ) and Education, Skills and Training (31.4%) were the domains that had the largest proportion of Clacton-on-Sea’s LSOAs in the top 10% most deprived in England.

Over 95% of the population identify as white. It’s population is considerably older than the national average. 29.8% are aged 65 and over, while the average is 18.4%.

It also has a disproportionately high number of 16-64 year olds with no qualifications compared to the rest of the country.

I read that approximately £60 million in government funding was directed towards Clacton's regeneration through specific levelling-up schemes.

I read too that the The IoD25 uses LSOAs from the 2021 Census to measure deprivation at a small area or neighbourhood level.

Therefore it remains to be seen if the money invested in Clacton since then affects people’s lives in any substantive and measurable way.

Tendring Council has published a lot of information on various initiatives, including what’s being done for Jaywick, this for example:

www.tendringdc.gov.uk/news/jaywick-sands-is-a-proud-community-with-a-bright-future-ahead-of-it

Watch Councillor Mark Stephenson speaking in light of this recent LSOA report. He is an Independent.

Now, if only the town had an MP who would champion it or even remember that he represents it.

I live in a nice leafy area, but a mile away, as the crow flies,totally different. Motorway separates us.
Even though the last council spent a lot of money, building new garden walls, fancy railings, fancy lanterns outside these properties. The streets, especially the side/ back lanes are a dumping ground for furniture& white goods.
Apart from a trip to the hospital I don’t go near this area.

I live in East Lancashire in an area that is one of the least deprived areas in the UK.

Thanks for posting that article PaynesGray. Essex County Council is about to be abolished and I'm not sur what effect extensive local reorganisation will have.

I live in Essex, where we have both the very wealthy and the very deprived, and everything in between!

I dont understand why people in these areas can’t go to the tip, pick up litter around their door,
tidy the front garden & weed the edge of the pavement outside the front door.
Oh & learn how to hang a pair of curtains.
I’ve noticed the council have provided these huge gates to the alley way, is that to stop people fly tipping?

Immediate area not at all deprived. Within 10 mile radius one of the richest and one of the poorest areas in the UK.

Flippinheck

I live in the North, Doris…This is not a deprived area and life here is not tough, quite the opposite. We no longer send children to work in mills and some of us even own cars. I really object to comments that persist in the view that the North is somehow sub. Yes, there are areas of deprivation, as there are in all regions. Generalisations like yours discredit you, not those of us who are proud and happy to live in the north.

dorisdodar is correct according to the graph shown on the BBC online news on this subject.

Always makes me think when I read this because benefits are the same wherever you live so wouldn't you be better off living in a cheaper area than an expensive area, surely those living in more expensive areas are going to struggle more. Slums aren't built they are made by the people that live there.

Middle England, high employment rates, many choose to retire here, services and housing reasonably good, but house price high and a lot of new build in progress, amid a lot of controversy. The downside, drug use is becoming a problem.

Zero thankfully. Home Counties.

Did you look at the article? There are far more deprived areas in the north of the country, and we knew that already. Far less funding comes up here, that's been known for years.

And maybe where you live isn't deprived but a lot of areas are deprived. I'm in Yorkshire and surrounded by deprivity, there's 4 food banks within walking distance. And Middlesbrough is in the north, the most deprived in the country.

Interesting post, PaynesGrey regarding seaside town and politicians.
You may recall that Mr Farage stood, unsuccessfully, for Thanet at the last election.
Clearly, he felt that he might be a good candidate for such places, and turned his attention to Clacton, with a more successful outcome- for him.
Whether it was a good result for the people of his constituency is a point for discussion.

Moii

Always makes me think when I read this because benefits are the same wherever you live so wouldn't you be better off living in a cheaper area than an expensive area, surely those living in more expensive areas are going to struggle more. Slums aren't built they are made by the people that live there.

That's exactly why people on benefits/low incomes gravitate towards cheaper areas, so deprivation becomes self-fulfilling.

Mt61

I dont understand why people in these areas can’t go to the tip, pick up litter around their door,
tidy the front garden & weed the edge of the pavement outside the front door.
Oh & learn how to hang a pair of curtains.
I’ve noticed the council have provided these huge gates to the alley way, is that to stop people fly tipping?

How much does your local council charge to remove unwanted furniture and other large items?

The EU used to financially support deprived areas. I saw lots of their blue plaques up north. Not sure if the previous government did the same after Brexit.