In the context of the local elections today, here at the studios we have been researching and reflecting on the poor rankings our local area in the South East of the UK – ‘Thanet’ – achieves in the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD).
‘The IMD2015 is the official measure of relative deprivation for small areas (or neighbourhoods) in England… [It] ranks every small area in England from 1 (most deprived area) to 32,844 (least deprived area). It is common to describe how relatively deprived a small area is by saying whether it falls among the most deprived 10 per cent, 20 per cent or 30 per cent of small areas in England (although there is no definitive cut-off at which an area is described as ‘deprived’). (View Source (PDF))
These ‘small areas’ are also called Lower Layer Super Output Areas (LSOAs). Simply put, these are geographic areas designed for the reporting of small area statistics in England and Wales.
It is these very same ‘small areas’ that make up the ‘wards’ that are represented by our potential councillors that we are electing today in the local elections.
The IMD monitors 9 aspects of deprivation:
- Income
- Employment
- Health deprivation and Disability
- Education Skills and Training
- Barriers to Housing and Services
- Crime
- Living Environment
- The impact on children
- The impact on older people
When you start to explore Thanet’s recent relationship with the IMD it makes for depressing reading.
THE STATS
Nationally, Thanet is ranked within the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) at 21 out of 326 authorities placing it within England’s 10% most deprived of authorities.
In Kent, it was the most deprived local authority in both IMD2010 and in IMD2015.
From 2010 until 2015 Thanet actually fell into further poverty from 49/326 to 28/326 by 21 places.
SPACER is in LSOA Thanet 013C, which is ranked 7,111 out of the 32,844 LSOAs in England; where 1 is the most deprived LSOA. This is amongst the 30% most deprived neighbourhoods in the country.
Thanet 013C is within Newington ward and one of 84 LSOAs in Thanet local authority district and abuts other LSOA’s that are amongst the 10% most deprived in the country.
There doesn’t seem to be any recent statistics available and we hope some are released soon.
MOVING FORWARD
We are aiming, with support of our local councillors, to add further value to our local area through the provision of employment, vocational courses, a Living Wage and a community engagement programme in our planned sustainable build. We, therefore, in the context of todays local elections, call for those we vote for today, who then have the responsibility of filling our local councils, to focus on improving Thanet across all areas of the IMD.
For more information visit this link.
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