摘要：• Although poor neighbourhoods have received considerable policy
attention over the past several years, statistical obstacles have often
confounded efforts to track the condition and trajectory of these
places, especially across decades using census data.
• This paper uses data from the 1991 and 2001 censuses, and
geographical information systems (GIS) analysis, to analyse what
happened during the 1990s to a collection of neighbourhoods in
England identified as “poor” in 1991. It extends earlier analysis
conducted at CASE by Glennerster et al. (1999).
• In 1991, the 273 “poverty wards” represented the 3 percent most
deprived small areas in England. They were concentrated in the
Northern regions and London, and contained roughly 5 percent of the
nation's population. Compared to national averages, residents of these
wards were more likely to live in social housing, be members of
minority ethnic groups, and be “work–poor” (of working age, but not
in work, study or a training scheme).
• Over the decade, the poverty wards made progress on a few key
measures. Most poor neighbourhoods experienced declines in
work–poverty, which were accompanied by employment gains most
frequently in the Northern regions. Rising qualifications levels in
poor neighbourhoods kept pace with those in the rest of the nation.
Meanwhile, the proportions of households that own their home, and
have access to a car, rose faster in the poverty wards than in the rest
of the nation.
• On other measures of neighbourhood vitality, however, already–large
gaps between poverty wards and national averages widened. The
proportion of poor–neighbourhood children in lone–parent families
rose from 27 to 40 percent from 1991 to 2001. Housing vacancy rates
declined more slowly in the poverty wards than the rest of the nation,
with most wards outside of London experiencing vacancy increases.
The proportion of working–age people with a long–term limiting
illness rose everywhere, but faster in poverty wards than elsewhere.
• In important respects, conditions in poverty wards improved over the
1990s, but the gap between those neighbourhoods and the nation as
a whole remains very wide. Moreover, differences across regions, in
some cases reflecting underlying demographic distinctions,
complicate the overall picture. Important parts of the government's
agenda for improving poor neighbourhoods were put into place after
the 2001 Census. These trends thus provide an important baseline
for assessing progress during the current decade, and serve as a
reminder that improvements in deprived areas often occur
incrementally, and require long–term efforts rather than short bursts
of special programmes.
