Poverty And Riches

A FIFTH of households in Southend City are classed as among the most privileged in society, new census figures suggest.

The latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) data shows 29,566 of 142,062 applicable households, 20.8 per cent were among the most affluent in Southend while 21.7 per cent were among the most deprived in the population.

The stubbornly high levels of poverty in the city in areas where HMOs and social housing are within a stone’s throw of leafy avenues and £1million plus homes has long been a feature of Southend.

Daniel Nelson, councillor responsible for Economic Growth & Investment, said: “Here lies the big issue in Southend in general.

“The fact of the matter is that for too long our local economy has been seen just something that’s there. We’ve never done a piece of work, since I’ve been a councillor, to really look into that and how do we grow the economy, which is why it was so important to myself that when I became portfolio holder the first thing I was absolutely stunned by, was there was actually no economic plan that was going live.”

The ONS graded households on income, economic activity, qualifications, the type and tenure of the household, and many other socio-economic factors.

The highest grade, AB, was for senior managers, administrators and other professionals, while the lowest grade, DE, was given to households with semi-skilled, unskilled or unemployed residents.

Coun Nelson added: “We are going to be developing an economic growth strategy and part of that will be about creating local jobs so people are lifted out of poverty and given the skills to become more affluent.

“Not everyone can be affluent. There is no society on earth where there isn’t a small proportion of affluent people, but I don’t think we should be seeing affluence as a bad thing.

“What we should be doing is encouraging more affluence and encouraging people to be having the skills and the know how to be put on the best trajectory to be as affluent as they can and the only way to do that is to sort out our economy, which has been neglected for four years.”

The Council has acknowledged the “variation in quality of life across the city” which has left some in despair a charity has claimed.

In its annual report 2021/22 the council revealed nine neighbourhoods out of 107 fell into the 10 per cent most deprived areas in the country with 14 per cent of children living in low-income households.

It also reported health inequality between wards with a life expectancy gap for men of nine years for and ten for females.

Gavin Dixon heads up Kings Church, which meets at St. Cedd’s in Bridgwater Drive, and the Kings Money Advice Centre. The charity is also on the council’s Attacking Poverty Steering Group, which aims to support people through the current economic crisis.

Asked if things had got worse for people who were already struggling, Mr Dixon said: “Undoubtedly, and those that had very little before it happened, have even less now.

“There is a percentage of the population of the city, they tighten their belt to pay for a few extras, but for some people in the city I would imagine it’s not had a massive impact.

“They have a level of disposable income by which they can still manage.

“Then you’ve got people right at the bottom for whom they are in despair as to what they do. For them food inflation is massive and I try not to be political, but if the Government says they’ve halved inflation that just means it’s only going up by half as much. It’s still going up so it’s still unaffordable for people.”
Mr Dixon added: “We have a waiting list. We’re all volunteers helping as many people as we can. My philosophy is that if you lift people at the bottom up they then stop needing so many other support mechanisms that they do now. If you give them security of housing then they don’t have to be ripped off by the private sector and therefore their housing benefit doesn’t need to be quite so high.
“It also covers my faith angle which is we should be looking after the poor because if we do that firstly their health improves therefore they won’t use so much access to the NHS. They won’t need so many family support mechanisms if they are sustainable and not having arguments in the family and the children are suffering. If you make a big effort to support those at the bottom end actually it benefits everybody.”

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