A stark new report by the Independent Commission on Neighbourhoods (ICON) warns the most disadvantaged areas of England are feeling a growing sense of insecurity
A landmark study has warned England is now ‘two nations’ when it comes to levels of crime and deprivation. The report, by the Independent Commission on Neighbourhoods (ICON), warns the most disadvantaged areas are feeling a growing sense of insecurity which is fuelling political disaffection.
The study, which analysed changes from 2001 to 2021 using latest available census data, found that across the country in those two decades total crime fell by 13% from 102 to 88 crimes per 1,000 people. But in the most disadvantaged areas, termed “mission critical neighbourhoods”, it fell by just 2%, from 258 crimes per 1,000 people to 252. It means many parts of the nation are stagnating, leading to fewer opportunities for young people, said Baroness Hilary Armstrong, ICON’s chair.
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A mission critical area is when a neighbourhood is failing each of the five benchmarks of success according to the government’s ‘missions’. Those benchmarks are: Economic growth, opportunity, health, crime, energy.
If an area scores 80 out of a possible 100 (with 100 being the worst mark), it is deemed as being “mission critical”. There are one million people living in 613 mission critical neighbourhoods, the report says.
Crime in those neighbourhoods is 2.9 times higher than the national English average. The North East has the highest concentration of mission critical neighbourhoods per region, the study found.
The Redcar and Cleveland constituency has six alone, and the report found that there is not one single place in the area where an A-level can be studied. The study, Progress and Pressure: Understanding Economic and Social change in England’s Neighbourhoods, is due to be launched on Thursday.
Redcar is following the trend of many coastal towns, the report said, with a “clear and persistent pattern of disadvantage affecting coastal communities”.
The same disadvantage can be seen in places such as Blackpool, Lancs, and Ramsgate, Kent. It added: “Stretches of coastline from Kent to the Isle of Wight are marked by dense clusters of decline, with towns such as Hastings, Bognor Regis and the Isle of Wight now on a clear downward trajectory.”
After a surge of investment in areas such as East London, the capital is now the only region in England that does not contain any mission critical neighbourhoods.
ICON polling earlier this year found that 20% of those in mission critical areas believed that crime was a “major issue” in their local neighbourhood – double the number in the least disadvantaged places (9%). Four times as many people in high-need neighbourhoods called illegal drugs a “major issue” compared with those in the lowest need places.
The study has also found that investments in social infrastructure, such as community centres, youth clubs, arts and culture and sport, can make a positive impact. The most mission critical constituency is Blackpool South, with 96% of its seat population in high need neighbourhoods.
It is followed by the Isle of Wight East with 94%, Bradford West with 90% and Clacton with 85.5%. By Local Authority area, Blackpool has 97.8% of its population in high need neighbourhoods, followed by the Isle of Wight with 90.7%, Fenland in Cambridgeshire with 84.6%, Hastings in East Sussex with 83.9% and Torridge in North-West Devon with 83.7%.
Per region, the north east has the highest concentration of Mission Critical areas, followed by Yorkshire and Humber, the North West, the East Midlands and then the West Midlands. Baroness Armstrong, who was Minister for Social Exclusion under Tony Blair, told the Mirror: “The government needs to understand, right across the board, that if they can get things right in these neighbourhoods, then they will get growth, and they will not need to be dependent on migration.”
She cited one case where a school deputy head in Redcar referenced a student who had the capacity to go to university but they did not believe it. The height of this student’s ambition, who was working in a local pizza shop, was to become the pizza maker as they earned more money, she said.
“In places like Redcar, it means aspirations are very low, Baroness Armstrong added. There is not one place where you can study there for an A-level. So you cannot be a nurse, for example. These neighbourhoods get left behind, and they have no ambition.”
The regions with the lowest levels of crime are Cheshire East, the East Riding of Yorkshire, the Vale of White Horse, Buckinghamshire, and Mid Sussex.
The report said the 2000s were broadly a period of national and neighbourhood improvements in health, education and employment, and that the gap between the richest and poorest areas narrowed. The employment rate for the worst-performing 10% of neighbourhoods rose from 31.4% to 54.6%.
But during Tory austerity between 2011 and 2021 employment rates fell across the board with the sharpest dip in the poorest areas, where the average employment rate fell back down to 46%.
Baroness Armstrong said infrastructure alone is not enough for the deprived areas. “We need to intervene and support local communities and make sure there is social infrastructure so people in these areas can work together, and so there are youth activities,” she said. “There are things that can be done but the intervention has to be long term.”
She cited one local area, which did not want to be identified, where a local police force had paid for an all weather football pitch, and afterwards had “zero” anti-social behaviour in the neighbourhood.
“It’s about getting people at local level to identify their problems, and then using imagination and creativity to tackle those issues. There needs to be coordination across the government and an understanding that infrastructure alone will not crack these problems – local people need to be at the centre of everything.”
The report said concerns about crime are fuelling a wave of political disaffection. Nigel Farage’s Reform won 80% of the mission critical neighbourhoods that were up for election in May compared to 40% of all other neighbourhoods up for election. Labour had represented 59% of the mission critical neighbourhoods before elections in May and has now just 2%.
