A BOLTON MP has said it is ‘incredibly worrying’ that Bolton has been ranked the 29th most income-deprived local authority in England.

A new report published by the Office for National Statistics has mapped local income deprivation and income inequalities within local authorities down to a hyper-localised level.

The report from the ONS found that income deprivation is lower in rural areas, and Bolton is classified as an urban area.

According to the research, 18.6 per cent of Bolton’s population in 2019 was classed as income deprived, and the Moran’s I score was 0.54.

The Moran’s I scale provides an alternative way of looking at inequality in an area by measuring how intermixed the most and least deprived neighbourhoods are. The closer the value to +1, the more highly clustered the deprivation is.

The least income deprived local authority is Hart, in which only 4.2per cent of the population was classed as income deprived in 2019.

This means Bolton’s deprivation level is over four times higher than the least deprived.

Of the 177 neighbourhoods in Bolton, 73 were amongst the 20 per cent most income-deprived in England, situated mainly in and around the town centre, and towards the south of the borough.

Only 26 neighbourhoods were in the 20 per cent least income-deprived areas in England.

In the least deprived neighbourhood of Bolton, just 1.9 per cent of people are estimated to be income-deprived.

Yet in the most deprived neighbourhood, 47.5per cent of people are estimated to be income-deprived.

Last night Yasmin Qureshi, MP for Bolton South East, said: “This new set of statistics come just a week after the recent revelations on child poverty in Bolton.

“For Bolton to be ranked as the 29th most income-deprived local authority (out of 316) is incredibly worrying.

"Places like Bolton need Government investment on an unprecedented scale to drive economic growth, housebuilding, and infrastructure development.

“I fear that as the next three years of a Tory Government progress, places like Bolton will fall further down the list and we cannot let that happen.”