Almost half of Southend's residents are living in the most deprived areas of the country

A whopping 40 per cent of those in the town live in areas considered to be the most deprived 30 per cent in England, with another eight neighbourhoods living in worse conditions, forming part of the 10 per cent most deprived areas in the country.

Families are struggling to keep up with rising housing and fuel costs in the town, as the impact of the Covid pandemic is set to the make the situation even worse.

Kursaal and Victoria wards are among the 20 per cent most deprived areas in the whole country.

This comes as part of the publication of Southend Council's annual report, published yesterday.

Matt Dent, Labour councillor of the Kursaal ward, said: "The main issues are around housing and fuel poverty.

"We've got more and more people using foodbanks coming out of the pandemic.

"It's extremely difficult to see what's going on.

"We need to build more social housing that people can afford. We've got 1,400 people on the housing waiting list.

"People are needing to get into social housing, who are in the private sector, but the homes may not not be suitable for them."

Mr Dent fears that Government plans to scrap universal credit and the furlough scheme will only make matters worse for those below the poverty line.

The annual report reveals how in 2020, 17 per cent of Southend's residents were economically inactive, a year which saw several draconian Covid lockdowns.

14 of Southend's neighbourhoods have a "higher population of children living in poverty than the England average."

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Carole Mulroney, councillor in charge of environment, culture, tourism and planning, added: "It's not a good situation that we find ourselves in.

"There's lot of factors behind it, and complex issues that need solving.

"There's a range of issues, and housing is one of the main ones."

The report reads: "It is important to acknowledge our borough’s challenges and their impact so that we can improve everyone’s quality of life. 

"There is considerable variation in quality of life across the borough - we have neighbourhoods comparable to some of the most deprived areas of the country, but we also have neighbourhoods ranked amongst some of the least deprived."

Anne Jones, cabinet member for communities and housing, said: “Unfortunately there are some areas of Southend which experience higher levels of deprivation, and this is one of the reasons the Council has decided to introduce an anti-poverty strategy.

"As well as being a priority for this administration, the strategy will define local minimum standards for living and allow the proper allocation of resources to tackle the issue from all angles - food, digital, opportunity and fuel, so we are treating the causes of the problem, not just one of the outcomes.

“We don’t want any resident in any ward within our borough to experience deprivation, so there is a lot of work taking place to address the issues, including additional financial support, schemes to maximise food initiatives, help with housing and access to projects to improve opportunities for employment.

"A lot of partnership work took place during the pandemic and now we need to build on that work and give our residents and neighbours the support and help they need to make improvements.”