Inequality Stretches Across England

With its long history of feudal tyranny, industrial workhouses, and dire slums, Britain is no stranger to deprivation. Even today, we are all too familiar with phenomena like “beds in storage sheds,” soaring food bank use and fuel poverty. Therefore, it is hardly surprising which, whenever there is a release of a new deprivation dataset, we tend to focus our attention on the “the majority of deprived” places across England.

While these types of areas warrant urgent interest, there are also many other significant tales to tell. Therefore, when the federal government released the latest Indices associated with Deprivation for England, We delved into the data through mapping and analysis to see what I could uncover. However, prior to I share my findings, it will be helpful to explain deprivation.

Deprivation is a mix of indicators associated with income, jobs, education, wellness, crime, housing, and environment. It is a broader measure than poverty – which tends to focus on income – but there is significant overlap forwards and backwards.

By combining deprivation data through 2010 and 2015 with readily available map data, I produced deprivation maps for all 326 of England’s local government bodies – all of which are available for download as well as re-use on my website. The overall message is clear: not much has changed.

Deprivation in Middlesbrough, 2015. Alasdair Rae

For example, 49% of Middlesbrough’s neighbourhoods remain within the most miserable 10% in England, compared to 47% in 2010. It is a similar story in Hull, where 45% were within England’s most deprived decile in 2015, compared to 43% in 2010.

Unlike poverty, deprival is a relative measure, meaning we can also locate England’s “least deprived” areas – such as Hart, in Hampshire. Yet the patterns in these locations have also proved to be very continual: not much has changed at either end of the deprivation spectrum.

Indices of Deprivation 2015 in Hart, Hampshire (click to enlarge). Alasdair Rae

Of course, this particular persistence should not surprise us. We are only talking about a five-year period – and even the most positive policymaker would not expect much to alter in half a decade. In fact, these people probably wouldn’t expect to see a lot change over a whole 10 years, so entrenched are designs of deprivation and so simple the impacts of city policy.

A special case

However, there is one major exception to this guideline: London. If we map out the data from the 2004 Indices of Deprivation, and compare them towards the most recent results, we see some striking changes.

I looked at locations in London, which were within England’s most deprived decile in both 2004 and 2015 – they appear in red-colored on the maps below. In 2004, London had 462 of England’s 10% most deprived areas. By 2015, this figure had shrunk to 274.

The disappearance of acute deprivation in Tower Hamlets? Alasdair Rae

The disappearance of numerous of the red areas since 2004 helps document the apparent dispersal of London’s weakest residents over little more than a decade.

These changes are most obvious in areas at the forefront of gentrification struggles, such as Tower Hamlets, Hackney, Newham, and Camden. You can see the results of this analysis for every London Borough here.

Hold on a minute though. Shouldn’t we be applauding the actual elimination of London’s most deprived areas? If these changes were due to individuals getting away deprivation and poverty, then your answer would be “yes.” However, I do not believe this is the case.

Given the influx of new residents in these areas, it is more likely to be a result of changing local populations, particularly in East London where the process of gentrification is well documented. Because recent events like the Cereal Killer Cafe protests have shown, this inevitably results in conflict and resentment at a local level.

Are Hackney’s poorer residents now better off? Alasdair Rae

At the same time, we are also seeing increases in the number of deprived neighbourhoods in certain Outer London Boroughs, such as Bromley. The 2 phenomena may not be directly related, but I wouldn’t rule it out. It could well be that as wealthier citizens move into the more central boroughs, lesser Londoners are being pushed toward the actual city’s more affordable outskirts.

An rise in acute deprivation in External London? Alasdair Rae

If we are serious about tackling acute deprivation in our society, then we should shift our concentrate beyond deprivation and towards inequality itself. Thankfully, the realization is gradually dawning that dealing with inequalities on a national level should be a matter of priority. The OECD has argued that when inequality rises, economic growth falls – and that we really should be more concerned with how those found on the bottom 40% of incomes within society fare.

Yet this information has to date had small impact upon government guidelines around the globe. To address the kinds of inequalities observed in England, there first must be a realisation that the impacts of austerity policies tend to be really spatially uneven and often serve to heighten levels of deprivation at the local level. This message is not currently a popular one, however i think it needs urgent attention.

Here’s what we learned through mapping out England’s inequalities is actually republished with permission from The Conversation