RICHEST and POOREST neighbourhoods

THE gap between the country's richest and poorest neighbourhoods is growing, with those at the top having almost £87,000 more to spend a year than those at the bottom.

- By DAVID DUBAS-FISHER

Households in the Leamouth neighbourhood of Tower Hamlets had an average disposable income of £107,600 after tax in the financial year ending 2023. That makes the area - which includes a number of upmarket riverside tower blocks between Canning Town and Canary Wharf - the country’s highest-earning neighbourhood, according to new data released by the Office for National Statistics.

By contrast, Sparkhill North in Birmingham had the lowest average income in the country. Households in the area had an average disposable income of just under £20,800 a year. That's £86,800 a year less than in Leamouth.

When the data was last released for the financial year ending 2020, the gap between the richest and poorest neighbourhoods was just £50,300 a year, suggesting the income gap has grown by 73% in the space of just three years.

Huge gaps in disposable income also exist with council areas.