Town hits back after verdict on deprivation

PROUD Blackpool locals have rejected the town’s label as a hotspot of deprivation, arguing that it is “warm and vibrant” with many hidden treasures.

- BY CHRIS RICHES

The resort has seven of England's 10 most deprived neighbourhoods, while Jaywick, near Clacton-on-Sea in Essex, was named the most disadvantaged in England for the fourth time.

The league of shame comes from the Ministry for Housing, which draws on data including health, employment levels, income, crime and housing.

The top 10 most disadvantaged areas also includes one in Hastings, East Sussex, and another in Rotherham, South Yorks.

The authors of the Index of Multiple Deprivation emphasised that not everyone in a highly deprived neighbourhood will be struggling, nor will all those in better placed areas be well off.

And Blackpool's residents launched a defence of their historic seaside town, which is in the midst of a £90million regeneration project.

Eva Ripoll Breau, 53, who is originally from Spain, settled there in 1988 and now manages a retirement home for the clergy.

She said visitors can expect “to be energised by nature – with the sea on one side and the hills on the other, the vibrancy and warmth of our people, and the thriving pace of all that happens”.