Worst region in country

May 9 2004 By Sunday Sun

The North is more deprived than any other region in the country, according to the most detailed study ever carried out by a British Government into the problem.

Published last week, the huge survey by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister painted a depressingly familiar picture.

It concluded that the North is the most deprived area when it comes to employment, education and health. Most depressingly it found that almost a quarter of England's most deprived areas were in the North.

But, for once it's not all doom and gloom . . . our living environment has been declared the best around. Access to housing and services also fared well, coming second top.

Top political and academic figures in the region last night told the Sunday Sun how much work there was to do to fight deprivation.

But there is hope. The new information - using the most accurate data ever collated - allows resources to be directed at areas where the need is greatest.

The English Indices of Deprivation 2004, which examined living conditions in more than 32,000 areas across the UK. Based on this data, Easington was the sixth most deprived local authority area.

Middlesbrough was ninth, Hartlepool 11th, Sunderland 22nd, Newcastle 23rd, South Tyneside 27th and Gateshead 30th.

Barrow in Furness came in at 33rd, while Redcar and Cleveland was 41st and Wansbeck 43rd most-deprived.

The Prime Minister's Sedgefield constituency is surprisingly high at 53rd.

A separate table shows a shocking number of North districts which have "hot spots" of deprivation.

In that league, Middlesbrough comes fourth, Newcastle fifth, Hartlepool 11th, Redcar and Cleveland 12th, Stockton 16th and Gateshead 18th.

The study divides the country up into Super Output Areas, SOAs, which are areas of between 1000-3000 people.

The North has the greatest percentage - 38.5 - of its SOAs in the most deprived 20 per cent in the country.

The Middlehaven area of Middlesbrough was deemed the 8th most deprived SOA nationally.

It also has the largest percentage of its population - 38 - living in the most hard-up areas, and lowest - just seven pc - living in the most affluent areas.

Outside London, the highest percentage - 26 - of children in the region live in deprived areas and it also has the highest percentage of older people affected by income deprivation.

Overall, the region with SOAs with the highest levels of multiple deprivation - for example, poor health as well as low income - was the North East.

Professor Fred Robinson, an expert in regional economic development at Durham University, said the stats told the same old story.

He said: "These figures demonstrate yet again the persistence of economic problems and associated deprivation in the region.

"The North East is a very depressed and disadvantaged region. That's not to say things haven't improved, but our situation is still very poor.

"We're still experiencing a decline in pop- ulation . . . many people have to leave to find a reasonable job."

Declaring the statistics to be "more accurate than ever", Prof Robinson explained that it is the demise of the North's industries that have left us lagging.

He said: "If you look around the region we have got long-term structural factors which explain a lot.

"For example, Easington is still badly affected by the pit closures which were not much more than a decade ago.

"It takes a very long time - longer than 10 years - to recover from that."

He added: "It shows how economic and social policy hasn't done anything like enough to narrow the gap.

"What comes out particularly strongly is the health divide. Health is particularly poor in the North East due to our industrial legacy. Things are being done, but nothing like enough.

And, while the North-South divide still stands, Prof Robinson is most interested in the "hot spots" within the region.

He said: "There is still a very powerful North-South divide.

"Economically, the South and the South East are getting stronger and pulling away from the North East.

"But the most telling thing are the incidences of hotspots in the two main conurbations.

"Both Newcastle and Middlesbrough rank very badly and that's a powerful story.

"What it demonstrates is incredible polarisation in these places in terms of the haves and the have-nots.

"You only need to compare the West End and Gosforth in Newcastle . . . there's an enormous difference.

"Newcastle in particular is a very divided city. Quite clearly, the deprived areas have become more severely deprived over the last few years."

The region's politicians last night accepted that the figures showed the North was playing catch-up.

Jim Cousins, Newcastle Central MP, said: "We should not kid ourselves that having beautiful buildings in the region is enough.

"We need better, health, more educational and job opportunities. That's where the work has to go on. It is unfinished business."

But he added: "One of the things that mustn't get overlooked is the quality of life in the North East.

"We have wonderful countryside around us . . . and that makes improving things like health all the more important."

Hartlepool Mayor Stuart Drummond said: "We are aware that we have got pockets of high deprivation.

"That's one of the reasons we keep banging the drum to the Government that we need more help and money to tackle the problem.

"We've taken massive strides in parts of the town.

"Unemployment was 25 pc in the 1970s, now it is 4.4pc, an all-time record low. But there is much work to be done."

Mayor of Middlesbrough, Ray Mallon, said: "I know that in Middlesbrough there's still a long way to go to improve the health and wellbeing of our citizens and the town's economy.

"But I believe we have started a journey to recovery, renewal and economic regeneration. It won't be an easy journey or a short one, but we will get there."

Sunday Sun: Champion of the North

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