‘significant progress’ being made in most deprived authority

NEWPORT has become the most deprived authority in Wales – but “significant progress” is being made overall in the city with house building and jobs growth meeting targets, a new report shows.

Of Newport’s 95 neighbourhoods, 23 now rank as some of the most deprived in Wales, equating to 24% of the authority, the biggest percentage of any in the country.

Two areas of Pill are the most deprived in the city, with one neighbourhood the 10th most deprived in Wales.

However, nearly 6,000 homes have been built and jobs growth in the city is above targets set in the council’s Local Development Plan (LDP).

The Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation (WIMD) measures deprivation levels primarily on income and employment, but also considers health, education, access to services, community safety, living environment and housing.

In 2014, there were 14 areas of Newport ranking among the 10% most deprived in Wales.

Blaenau Gwent, Merthyr Tydfil, Cardiff and Rhondda Cynon Taf all had a higher percentage of areas among the most deprived than Newport.

Newport council’s annual monitoring report of its LDP says this represents “a significant negative shift” for the city and says it is a “concerning statistic”.

“The 2019 WIMD demonstrates that Newport is not making sufficient progress in trying to address deprivation,” it says.

“It is not necessarily true to say that Newport is becoming more deprived, but the evidence would suggest it is not making the same progress as other parts of Wales.”

But it also says jobs growth, house values and proportions of economically active people in Newport suggest the city is becoming “a more prosperous place to live”.

Cllr Deb Davies, cabinet member for sustainable development, told a cabinet meeting on Wednesday it was “especially of concern” that figures now showed Newport as “the most deprived authority in the whole of Wales”.

Cllr Davies said the council was “working with our corporate plan to address these issues”.

“Significant progress has been made in Newport with many of the key aims and objectives of the LDP fulfilled.”

Council leader, Cllr Jane Mudd, said the council’s performance against its LDP targets had been “very good”.

She pointed to 94% of housing developments being completed on brownfield sites; 1,200 affordable homes built and nearly 26 hectares of new employment land created as some of the key achievements.