This dataset outlines the level of deprivation relative to the rest of England, which is divided into over 33,000 neighbourhood areas – that’s each local council ward divided into three. There are 53 local neighbourhood areas in the Borough of Hastings.

Deprivation is calculated using a combination of factors: income, employment, education, health, local living environment and access to housing and services. The lower an area’s score, the more deprived it is assessed to be relative to the rest of the country.

A third of local people live within the most deprived 10% of all areas in England, and nine local areas are within the top 3% of most deprived localities. It is estimated that 15,000 people – 16.5% of the population – live within these areas. Children are disproportionately affected, 20% being in these localities.

Overall Deprivation

On average, our most deprived council ward is Central St Leonards, closely followed by Hollington. Castle, Gensing, Baird, Tressell & Wishing Tree also score poorly, indicating pockets of high deprivation. The wards of Conquest and St Helens were the only two wards that scored above the English average, indicating that these areas contain a degree of affluence.

The area where deprivation is highest is in East Baird, which covers Broomgrove, Malvern Way and Southdown Avenue. Central Tressell – Halton Crescent and Priory Road – also scores very high in deprivation, ranked as the 25th most deprived area.

32% of the local population – and 37% of all children in Hastings – live in the highest levels of deprivation. Two-thirds of all areas within Hastings are ranked in the bottom 30% of the country – see Figure 1. Currently 63,300 people in Hastings – 73% of the population – live in the poorest three deciles, highlighting the extent of relative poverty within the town. The most deprived areas of the borough continue to be located in the borough’s central southern parts, the Hollington and Wishing Tree estates and the Ore/Baird Valley area in the east. 

Figure 1 demonstrates that intense pockets of deprivation coexist closely with areas of affluence. This is a continuation of previous trends. Further, the data highlights how inequality in the town has extended, with the gap between the ranks of the most deprived and affluent areas increasing by over 1,000.

Main drivers

The main cause of the town’s deprivation is poor housing and services. An individual is assessed to be deprived of housing and key services if they can’t access or afford them.

The most housing-deprived localities are the northern part of Ore, the central part of Tressell and the eastern part of Baird. All fall within the 100 most deprived localities in the whole of England, meaning 6% of the population in Hastings lives within the most housing-deprived areas in England. Again, children disproportionately live in those areas, accounting for 10% of all children in the borough.

Taking council ward housing deprivation averages, 11 out of 16 council wards fall into the bottom 10%. This means that 63,350 people – 69% of the population in the town – live in areas with very limited housing affordability and service accessibility, with children more likely to reside within these areas.

The main reason Hastings scores so poorly is because of the town’s historic barriers to accessing services, with poorly built and neglected estates built on the edges of the town. Such areas have limited public transport, with many anyway not able to afford it. Further, some buildings are old, damaged, poorly maintained and unsuitable, leading to poor housing scores. Additionally, an acute housing crisis in the last five years means the town has gone from relative affordability to being uneconomical within a short period.

Slipping down the rankings

Due to this, 17 out of 53 localities have slipped down the rankings. Areas in Silverhill, Tressell and Old Hastings saw particularly strong increases in housing deprivation. Thus 31% of the total population of Hastings has experienced a large increase in housing and service deprivation relative to the rest of England since 2019. This indicates that, relative to the rest of England, the housing and cost-of-living crisis has made the town and its population more exposed to poverty.

Employment and Health deprivation are the next most impactful factors. Both produced lower scores than in 2019, indicating that increasing unemployment levels and worsening health in the town are contributing to greater deprivation. Low scores in education and crime also contribute, although these scores did not change from 2019, suggesting they are unlikely to be responsible for the recent increased poverty in the town. 

Low income also plays a part in generating higher-than-average deprivation scores. Yet the average income has increased. This indicates that new arrivals with more money may be improving the town in some dimensions, but increasing poverty in others, such as by worsening housing affordability.

Overall, if these trends continue without intervention, it is likely that deprivation and inequality within the town will continue to grow between now and the release of the next indices of deprivation in 2030.

However, the Independents have announced that they will be fielding candidates in eight other wards as well – six currently held by Conservatives (Ashdown, Baird, Conquest, Maze Hill, St Helens, West St Leonards and Wishing Tree), two by Labour (Central St Leonards and Wishing Tree). 

Cllr Andy Batsford has admitted that, without any national party organisation to back them, they are heavily reliant upon local volunteers to provide logistical support, including social media messaging, for their relatively unknown candidates. One candidate, however, Peter Bailey in Baird, should be well known to local voters, having headed the opposition to redevelopment of the Pilot Field within the ward.

Labour and Green party canvassers have in the meantime been out in strength in the streets of several wards. Labour brochures appear designed to appeal on a broad front, preparing for a forthcoming national election as well as the local ones: they refer to their constituency candidate Helena Dollimore, championing her role in saving the Ridge Fire Station. Both parties take pains to ascribe pothole responsibility to East Sussex County Council (under a Conservative administration) while claiming that their candidates will make it their priority business to maximise reporting on incidents within their wards. 

The Conservatives, who will be defending eight of the 16 ward seats in the borough, seem to have kept a lower profile. But Reform UK has established a new local constituency branch in Hastings & Rye following the selection of Lucian Fernando, who, as ward councillor for Silverhill on Hastings Borough Council, defected from the Conservative party to Reform last year, to contest the parliamentary seat in the next general election.

The launch event in the Laya restaurant in St Leonards last Thursday (22 March) was also attended by Cllr Abul Azad, who represents Bexhill North on the county council and is Reform’s candidate in the neighbouring constituency of Bexhill & Battle. Cllr Fernando said his party was “dedicated to fostering an inclusive and transparent political environment where every voice is heard, and every concern is addressed”. He promised to “work tirelessly to enact positive change and to build a brighter future for everyone in Hastings and Rye”.

Correction:

In HIP 247 we published an article Can you hear the election drums Fernando which stated that in June 2021 Cllr Fernando had been “arrested and charged with being drunk in charge of a car. He was later fined and disqualified from driving for a year.” He has told us that he was “detained” and not “arrested”, and that he was disqualified for six months, not a year.