Town among six struggling with high deprivation
SIX South Wales towns have been named among the 20 communities with the highest levels of deprivation in Wales and England, according to a Centre for Towns study.
The study, which looks at the short-term and long-term implications of the coronavirus on towns, has placed Tredegar in Blaenau Gwent second on its absolute deprivation scale.
The 20 ranked highest for absolute deprivation also included Maesteg (7th), Ebbw Vale (9th), Merthyr Tydfil (10th), Tonypandy (13th) and Porth (20th).
The Centre for Towns is an independent organisation that promotes the wellbeing of towns in Wales and England.
The report says: “We believe these measures interact in different ways in different places but a place which has poor social and economic wellbeing and is isolated might be said to be lacking in resilience with regards to Covid-19.”
Measures that are considered for the deprivation ranking includes dozens of factors such as the distance to the nearest GP, the median household income and broadband speed.
The report highlights ex-industrial towns like Tredegar and coastal towns as being the most vulnerable.
It says the challenges ex-industrial towns face pre-date the coronavirus pandemic and their ability to “withstand the economic shocks associated with coronavirus depend on their existing resilience”.
The report also looks at economic exposures to the coronavirus, which could have a lasting impact on towns.
It looks at the towns that have the highest percentage of its workforce in the industries that have all but shut down during the lockdown period such as the arts and leisure industry.
Risca was ranked 10th among Welsh and English towns for employment in this industry, with 9.2% of the workforce in arts and leisure.
This includes creative libraries, museums and activities.
When looking at the percentage of workforce employed in pubs and restaurants, Abertillery in Monmouthshire ranked seventh of all towns in Wales and England, with 19% of the town’s workforce employed in the pub and restaurant sector.
The Centre for Towns has now called for “a programme of financial support that targets the most at-risk sectors, defined by short-term closure and the expected duration of recovery, managed at geographical level, that extends out throughout the likely duration of the pandemic.”
A spokesman for Blaenau Gwent arts, sports council said: “The Coronavirus pandemic is having a major worldwide disruptive effect on virtually every society and economy.
“It is too early judge the full social and economic impact of this in Blaenau Gwent at this stage and to detail any extra support that may be needed in the longer term for individual towns.
“In the short term the Council is focusing on protecting its most vulnerable residents and delivery of key services in line with Government and scientific advice.
“Part of the council’s response is to work with businesses to ensure they can take full advantage of grants and support packages available from Government including the economic resilience fund.”
The chief executive of Monmouthshire council Paul Matthew said he welcomed the report.
He said: “Lockdown has accelerated a move to web-based shopping for understandable reasons and countering this is going to be difficult but it is possible.
“The council will continue to play as big a part as possible but our efforts are only part of the picture.
“We believe that the widely discredited business rates system which penalises many town centre traders needs to be reformed and landlords may need to be a little more realistic in their rental expectations.”
Caerphilly council has been contacted for comment.