Councils with highest percentage of deprived areas
Share of areas in the 20% most-deprived
The Vale of Leven where there are pockets of deprivation. Picture by Craig Jump
By Democrat reporter
West Dunbartonshire is one of the councils with the highest percentage of deprived areas in Scotland.
The SNP-run council has come fourth top (or fourth bottom, depending how one looks at it) behind Inverclyde (Greenock), Glasgow City and North Ayrshire. The source for this is Scottish government.
The statisticians who put together the index say that “deprived” does not just mean “poor” or “low income”.
It can also mean that people have fewer resources and opportunities, for example in health and education.
One area may score well on educational outcomes for example, but have poor health and access to services.
The most-deprived areas for each criteria:
- Income – Falkirk town centre and Callendar Park
- Employment – Glasgow’s Shettleston north
- Health – Glasgow’s Possil Park
- Education – Craigneuk, in Wishaw, North Lanarkshire
- Access – Rannoch and Aberfeldy, in Perth and Kinross
- Crime – South area of Glasgow city centre
- Housing – Part of Strathbungo, on the south side of Glasgow
A separate report released on Tuesday by the Scottish government also highlighted the impact of deprivation in Scotland. It found that those living in the most deprived parts of the country are now four times more likely to die early than they were 20 years ago.
Responding to the SIMD research, Communities Secretary Aileen Campbell, pictured left, said more than £1.4bn had been invested in helping low-income households in 2018-19, with ministers also set to bring in the new £10-a-week Scottish Child Payment for poorer families from the end of 2020.
Ms Campbell said: “We are tackling the underlying causes of poverty… [and] we will continue to work in partnership with local government, the third sector and communities themselves to do all we can to tackle the causes of inequality and support the regeneration of our towns and cities.”
Councillor Jim Clocherty said no area wants to be labelled as ‘most deprived’.Inverclyde Council’s deputy leader, Councillor Jim Clocherty, said the label was “a bitter pill to swallow”, adding that “investment can’t come soon enough”.
He said: “No part of Scotland wants to be labelled as the ‘most deprived’.
“Greenock town centre has been earmarked for a £3m investment; right in the heart of this datazone for the redevelopment of its main shopping area at West Blackhall Street to boost the town centre and encourage more visitors.
“Within this datazone we have also secured investment to develop a new cruise visitor centre.”
- West Dunbartonshire Council’s £500,000 communications department nor Cllr Jonathan McColl would discuss the new statistics with The Dumbarton Democrat.
Deprivation levels in Scotland’s cities
Maps produced by the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation highlight the differences between areas.
Those locations coloured dark red are in the most-deprived 10% in Scotland. Dark blue represents the least-deprived 10%.
The maps below show the colour of each data zone graded from dark red through orange to yellow, light blue and dark blue.
Dark blue is the least deprived 10% of Scotland, according to SIMD
