Prescott's 10-year plan to revive poorest areas

outlined a 10-year plan today to breathe new life into some of the most deprived neighbourhoods in London and other parts of England.

The 2billion Neighbourhood Renewal programme will seek to boost up to 2,000 of the poorest areas by combining initiatives to cut crime, create jobs, improve public services and lure back private services such as shops and banks.

It could see neighbourhood wardens appointed to help push through improvements and tackle antisocial behaviour.

The Deputy Prime Minister believes this is a priority on individual estates which will have to tackle crime and disorder to create an environment where jobs, training, education and services can be given a chance to flourish.

As Mr Prescott visited an estate in Leytonstone after announcing that seven of England's poorest estates will receive support from the New Deal for Communities programme, a consultation paper was published on Neighbourhood Renewal, highlighting the growing gap between rich and poor over the past 20 years.

While poverty is said to be worse in the North and North-West, some London boroughs are also among those which the Government will seek to aid.

The report says that in the past two decades, poverty has become more concentrated on individual estates where people have become more excluded from the mainstream of society.

They are said to suffer death rates up to 30 per cent higher than the rest of the country.

by DAVID SHAW Parliamentary Correspondent

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