Residents in a Nottinghamshire town said they were 'shocked' after hearing the area was among the most deprived in Nottinghamshire. The data, collected from the 2021 census, shows the south west of Newark has one of the highest rates of deprivation in Nottinghamshire at 0.6% across the four categories of education, employment, health and housing.
A household deprived in employment is when any member of the household, who is not a full-time student, is either unemployed or disabled, whereas a household is deprived in the housing dimension if the household is overcrowded, in a shared dwelling or has no central heating. Additionally, a household is classified as deprived in education if nobody has at least a level 2 in education, and nobody aged 16 to 18 is a full-time student, Meanwhile, a household is deprived in health if any member is classed as disabled.
Whilst 0.6% of households may seem low, most areas of Nottinghamshire have 0% or 0.1% of households deprived in all four areas. However, when considering how many households in the south west of Newark are deprived in at least one of these four categories, the total rises to 36%. Households deprived in two categories is 17.6% and households affected by three categories is 6.3%.
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These rates are much higher than other parts of Nottinghamshire. Residents in the south west of Newark were surprised that they were classed as one of the most deprived areas, with many stating the number of retired people in the area or those living in homes or apartments could be responsible for the higher numbers, as these factors would affect the housing and employment factors.
Watch repairer Ron Brown, 73, said: "It's only the fact that it's probably one of the biggest estates in the Midlands. I wouldn't have thought so, but this is one of the biggest estates for council housing and shared housing."
When told about the area being one of the most deprived, retired Denise Wilson said: "I'm shocked. We never have any trouble, it's lovely around here.
"Around here everyone is in their sixties and we are all good neighbours and all get on well. It's really quiet and its like this all the time, even at night, I'm just shocked.
"It's the best place I have ever lived, and I've been here 10 years. I've got the post office and the shops and the chip shop, everything is on my doorstep."
Denise explained the area may be seen as deprived due to being part of the Hawtonville estate, and due to the number of people living in shared accommodation or not being able to work. She said: "They are all elderly people that are in there, and they are lovely and talk to me. I've never had a problem with them.
"We are classed as on the Hawtonville estate, but we are right on the edge of it." Mum Jade Hunter, 23, said she wasn't too surprised over the area being deprived due to the schools in the area and it being "hard to find things work wise."
Pensioner, Michael Wright, 67, was also surprised that the area was seen as one of the more deprived places to live, describing it as a "great" place. He said: "I've been in Newark since I was 19. There's not a lot for kids, they used to use the community centre but there's nothing for them now to keep them off the streets."
Ownerer of Fryers Club, Sunil Mehta, said: "It's a very nice community I think, everyone knows each other and try to help each other. There are some very good people around here but then there's a few that make it bad."
When asked about the community itself and if it was a good place to live, he said: "The best ever place that I have lived in Newark. Such nice people that live here, I've never had a complaint about any of them."
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