Digested: The 2010 Indices of Multiple Deprivation

It may have been because they were released the day after the Budget, but - this Guardian story from today aside - official figures measuring the geography of deprivation across England have received scant coverage in the media. While the statistics may have been largely ignored by the mainstream press, they are of crucial importance to Whitehall policy makers, local authorities and regeneration agencies, often providing the evidence base used to target funding at particular neighbourhoods. And, should the Government continue to publish the dataset, the next set of figures – due in 2013 – is likely to provide the most comprehensive evidence of the impact of the recession and government spending cuts on local areas.

The Indices of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) statistics measure levels of deprivation in lower level super output areas (LSOAs), which are described by the Office for National Statistics as “homogenous small areas of relatively even size (around 1,500 people)”. Most of the indicators used for the latest IMD statistics date from 2008, but nevertheless the figures – which update the previous set published in 2007 - provide a fascinating insight into how patterns of deprivation are changing across England.

Here are a few facts from the latest IMD statistics we thought you might find interesting (you might also want to have a look at think-tank the Centre for Cities’ blog for another take on the figures).

The East of England: a land of stark contrasts

The most deprived of England’s some 32,500 lower super output areas is to the east of the Jaywick area of Clacton on Sea in Essex. Jaywick (pictured above), a seaside village which has many homes that were originally built as holiday chalets, was ranked as the third most deprived area in the 2007 set of figures. It replaces Breckfield in Liverpool as England’s most deprived LSOA (Breckfield is now ranked the fourth most deprived LSOA). Meanwhile, England’s least deprived LSOA can also be found in the East of England. This is located to the north west of Chorleywood in Hertfordshire.

The rich stay rich and the poor stay poor

As the methodology used for the 2010 IMD was broadly similar to that used for the 2007 IMD, it is possible to examine which LSOAs have seen a change in their relative rankings on the index, and how large that change has been. Overall, 66 per cent of LSOAs were in the same decile in the 2010 IMD as they were in the 2007 index. But as the graph (below) shows, most of the movement between deciles involves mid-ranking LSOAs. The LSOAs that are the most disadvantaged - and those that are the most well off - are most likely to stay that way, the figures show. According to the figures, only 12 per cent (375) of the most deprived LSOAs moved out of the most deprived decile in 2010, and of these, 373 now rank among the 20 per cent most deprived.

The North West: a deprivation hotbed

According to the 2010 IMD, the North West is home to the greatest proportion of the most deprived LSOAs (those that are in the 1 per cent most deprived areas). Fifty-two per cent of these super-deprived LSOAs are in the North West, while none are in London. Three councils in the North West (Liverpool, Manchester and Knowsley) are among the five local authorities in England with the greatest proportion of their LSOAs ranked among the 10 per cent most deprived in the country. Fifty-one per cent of Liverpool’s LSOAs are among the 10 per cent most deprived in England, according to the figures. Eleven per cent of the city's population live in LSOAs that are among the one per cent most deprived in England.

Changing patterns of deprivation: a regional split

The figures also show how the number of the most disadvantaged LSOAs changed in each region between 2007 and 2010. London saw the greatest reduction in the number of most deprived LSOAs between 2007 and 2010 (80 LSOAs – a fall of 17 per cent), while the North West and North East registered smaller reductions. The other regions all saw increases in the number of LSOAs within their boundaries over the same period. Of these, the West Midlands saw the greatest increase in LSOAs (36 – a rise of 7 per cent), while the South East saw the greatest percentage rise (29 LSOAs, 31 per cent).

jamie.carpenter@haymarket.com

How to revive our town centres

Richard Garlick on why one local authority regeneration director is urging the rejection of out-of-town schemes

Could local authorities reinvigorate town centres full of abandoned shops by allowing changes of use by the back door? That suggestion was floated yesterday by Jackie Sadek, chief executive of membership body UK Regeneration.

Sadek was speaking in a debate that I chaired at the Mipim property conference in France. The speakers had been asked to suggest ways in which towns and cities can keep their centres healthy in the face of increased online shopping and other threats. Sadek suggested that, in some instances, changes of use to small business units or housing would be appropriate, but would be difficult to implement because of complex planning rules. But councils might be able to simplify the process by endorsing such modifications through the less onerous building regulations process, she said. "That is the idea I would put into this debate," she said. "But it would require responsive local authorities".

She also suggested that many high street retail units were now too small to be "fit for purpose", which was why many fashion chains preferred to locate in modern malls. Speaking alongside her, Luton Borough Council environment and regeneration director Colin Chick acknowledged the issue, but said that councils could use their planning powers to overcome it. The council was currently working with the owners of the Mall shopping centre in Luton to them expand the floorplate of some of their ground floor shops, he said, and was prepared to consider using compulsory purchase powers to allow them to do so.

Chick's main point was to urge councils not only to resist out of centre development "at all costs" but also to reject out-of-town type schemes in the town centre. He said that Luton had rejected a 100,000sq ft Tesco scheme with 700 car parking spaces, and did not regret it. Since then the council had invested in the town centre, creating a new public square and improved street cleaning, and had been repaid by high occupancy levels, he said.

He particularly warned councils against accepting large town centre supermarkets that predominantly sold non-food items. It was not untypical for 100,000sq ft stores to have only around a third of their floorspace dedicated to selling food, with the rest devoted to clothes, shoes, televisions and other comparison goods. Do not accept the supermarkets' argument that visitors to such a store would also use other shops in the town, he said. "Once they have got the frozen food in the boot, all they will want to do is go straight home," he said.

The debate was held on the Mipim stand organised by communications firm Place UK.

Regen chief strikes back

More "public sector shouldn't be at Mipim" controversy to report.

I hear that Luton Council’s head of regeneration Colin Chick was harangued at the airport this morning by two queue jumpers who claimed to be late for a flight to Benidorm. When Colin objected to their behaviour they launched into a “waste of tax payers’ money” rant.

In reply, Colin pointed out the cost of Luton’s delegation is being met by the private sector, so the only cost to the council is his time, which, he pointed out, was more than compensated for by the amount of unpaid overtime he puts into his job.

Postscript: Was it odd that two random blokes on their way to Benidorm not only recognised their council’s regeneration chief, but also instantly deduced that he was off to an international property show in Cannes? It certainly would have been, were it not for the fact that they were both in fact delegates on their way to the self same event.

Follow Adam Branson's tweets from Mipim. For more stories from the event, visit http://www.planningresource.co.uk/go/mipim2011.

Cheerleading for LEPs

They maybe hard to find north of the Watford Gap service station, but fans of local enterprise partnerships are in evidence here at Mipim.

This morning I chaired a session on behalf of Jackie Sadek's new outfit UK Regeneration - the successor body to the British Urban Regeneration Association - and the Place UK network entitled "LEPs - emerging models for operation, harnessing their power to generate regeneration". On the panel was Alex King, deputy leader at Kent County Council and the "mastermind", at least according Sadek, of the Kent/Essex super-LEP.

The abolition of regional development agencies and the advent of LEPs is, King said, representative of a "very real change of direction" for central government, with power shifting away from the centre and towards local government.

For her part, Sadek couldn't have agreed more, stating that LEPs represent a move away from "diktat bureaucracy" and that prior to last May, regeneration had become the "biggest metaphor for big government".

Music to Eric Pickles ears.

Follow Adam Branson's tweets from Mipim. For more stories from the event, visit http://www.planningresource.co.uk/go/mipim2011.

Legal lessons: Why LEPs should be incorporated

In my last blog post, I reported on the news that most of the public-private led local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) have yet to clarify what planning-related roles and responsibilities they might take on.

Without wanting to state the obvious, there's a huge amount of other LEP-related issues that have yet to be worked out, one of which came to the fore at a recent conference I attended on the future of LEPs. The event was hosted by law firm Bircham Dyson Bell and included a presentation by one of the company's partners, Nick Evans, who issued a stark reminder to LEPs that their powers and sphere of influence would be limited unless they had "some sort of legal 'personality'".

'In the rush to get LEP bids approved, board members probably won't have given full consideration to how they would legally constitute their partnership'

This won't be news to many people - business minister Mark Prisk told a select committee meeting last autumn that LEPs will need to be legally incorporated in order to acquire assets, distribute public funding or win contracts (although he added that he would "not want to be prescriptive about what that legal status might be").

Nonetheless, in the rush over the past few months to get LEP bids approved, appoint boards and determine priorities, partnerships probably won't have given full consideration to how they would legally constitute their LEP, if at all.

But what was clear from Planning's survey of LEPs, mentioned above, was that LEPs are ambitious about the level of involvement they want to have in local strategies but, according to Evans, they might find themselves limited in what they can achieve because they are not statutory bodies.

He suggested LEPs could adopt the following legal structures in order to boost their powers by becoming a company limited by guarantee or a special purpose vehicle, a legal entity set up to fulfil a particular purpose.

In addition to these, he said, there are other, non-incorporated delivery models that would enable them to help deliver local authority activities:

- Multi-area agreements (Maas)
- Economic prosperity boards
- Statutory/non-statutory working arrangements

You can view Evans' presentation here.

Meanwhile, at a separate conference, transport secretary Philip Hammond announced that LEPs would be allowed to manage Whitehall transport funding if they form consortia of a number of neighbouring partnerships. This would be a good solution to the issue of how LEPs can help bring forward transport projects when so many major transport schemes inevitably fall across a number of LEP boundaries and so require a degree of larger-than-local planning. However, it has yet to be determined whether these consortia will need a legal personality in order to manage transport cash.

Keep up to date with news on local enterprise partnerships with our dedicated LEP topic page and subscribe to its RSS feed here.

It's that time of year again...

And so it rolls around again. Mipim: the week when the property and regeneration sectors decamp en masse to the south of France for a week of back slapping; the week when public sector attendees strive to look like they're not having fun, but are secretly delighted that they're in Cannes rather than Birmingham; and, most famously, the week when we launch our listing of the 100 biggest regeneration projects in the country. What's not to love?

I suspect, however, this year that sheepish public sector contingent will be conspicuous in its absence. Quite understandably, many local authority leaders have decided not to risk the wrath of the local electorate by attending a property event in Cannes mere weeks before savage spending cuts begin to have a real impact on people's lives. If it wouldn't be risky enough, this is also an election year for many councillors.

As an aside, my personal view is that so long as a local authority brings back more in investment than they spent on going to Mipim in the first place, I couldn't care less. (You say that the people with money to invest would rather do their business somewhere warm with plenty of decent hotels? And I tell you the Pope genuinely is Catholic, not matter what you may have heard to the contrary.) If they bring back less investment than the cost of the trip they should be shot, obviously. An exception is the London Borough of Lewisham, which would be spending MY council tax money.

Anyway, a few councils have found what they hope are ways around the potentially damaging headlines. Croydon council, for instance, has managed to get local private sector companies to put up the money for their delegation, while others have found an economy of scale by grouping together under the Regeneration UK banner. But on the whole it's going to be quiet.

For those that can't find an excuse to escape the tail end of what's been a particularly joyless winter in the UK, some comfort may be gained by checking the Cannes weather forecast on the BBC's website. The temperature is going to take a plunge on Monday, just in time to welcome delegates. On Tuesday night it's going to get down to freezing. So, Champagne on the beach out for the first half of the week at least.

For my part I'll be braving the Arctic conditions to bring you regular news stories, blogs and tweets (@adamjbranson). I'll be back in Planning Towers once the frostbite has worn off.