North West still a deprivation hotspot, says think tank

URBAN areas of the North West contain some of the highest concentrations of deprived neighbourhoods in the country, according to think tank Centre for Cities.

Commenting on the recent release of the 2010 Index of Multiple Deprivation, the organisation said that half of all of the areas which feature in the top 1% of deprived neighbourhoods in the country were based within North West towns and cities.

Analyst Rachel Smith said that in Liverpool, some 11% of the city’s population – 85,800 people were living in areas such as Everton that are in the top 1% of deprived neighbourhoods in the country.

“But, Liverpool isn’t the only city in the North West with deprived areas,” she added.

In Blackburn, for instance, 9% percent of the city’s population – or 12,100 people – were living in the most deprived neighbourhoods and in Blackpool 7% – or 23,600 people – were in the top 1% deprivation bracket.

“The number of people living in deprived neighbourhoods is large and if, as is often the case, many of these people are workless, then the scale of the challenge faced by Government’s policies like the Universal Credit and The Work Programme is large,” she added.