BOLTON’s most deprived areas have been revealed.

Government figures have detailed the levels of deprivation across the England based on a range of factors including income, employment, health and education.

The statistics have been broken down for small areas of between 400 and 1200 households or 1-3,000 people.

In Bolton, there are 36 of these areas which fall within the top one per cent of the most deprived in the country.

Top of the pile is an area of Brownlow Fold — bordered by Gaskell Street, Bark Street and School Hill — which is ranked as the 201st most deprived area out of the 32, 844 in England.

Coming in second place is an area close by — land on the edge of the town centre, incorporating part of Topp Way, Folds Road and Turton Street, which was ranked 488th overall.

An area of Breightmet, near to Bolton St Catherine’s Academy is in third spot in the borough — 60th overall and the part of the Johnson Fold Estate comes in fourth place at number 702.

Making up the top five of Bolton’s most deprived areas is land in the New Bury area of Farnworth — bordered by Worsley Road, Piggot Street and the M61.

On the other side of the coin, the area of Bolton with the least deprivation, according to the new statistics is an area on the border of Horwich, next to Bolton Golf Course leading up to Matchmoor Lane, which was ranked 31,647 out of the 32,844 in the country.

This is closely followed by an area of Lostock between Regent Road and Beaumont Road.

The top five list is completed by two areas in Westhoughton and land in Harwood between the golf club and Stitch-Mi-Lane.

The English Indices of Deprivation — which was last carried out in 2010 — covers a wide range of issues and refers to unmet needs caused by a lack of various resources.

The seven separate domains of deprivation examined include crime, education, skills and training, barriers to housing and services, disability, health, living environment and income.

Cllr Akhtar Zaman represents Halliwell ward — which covers the top two most deprived areas in the borough, said things have got worse for local people in recent years.

He said: “I have been a ward councillor for 13 years but since 2010 I have seen people getting into more and more difficulties because of things like welfare reform. I am not surprised by these statistics, it is usually our inner urban areas that have the most deprivation.

“There are people in our ward who have very difficult lives, we are aware of this and are trying to help them by targeting funds specifically and using a neighbourhood management approach.”