Some of Colchester's most lavish areas have pockets of deep deprivation and poverty, it has been revealed.

In two months' time, the newly-established Anti-Poverty Forum will hold its first meeting and report back on its findings so far.

Profiles on each ward in Colchester have been carried out and have revealed glaring areas of poverty in places normally deemed affluent.

In carrying out the profiles, researchers have approached poverty in more than just wealth terms. They have looked at access to services, literacy and numeracy, health and employment.

Professor Jules Pretty, forum chairman, said the group's work so far was promising and was already giving insights into poverty in the Colchester area.

He said while wards such as St Anne's might have clear signs of financial poverty, other, seemingly affluent wards, also had areas of poverty, which often goes unnoticed.

Rural areas such as East Donyland and Fordham are prime examples.

While Fordham has a small number of benefit claimants, very low unemployment and high reading and numeracy rates, it also has "extremely poor access to services measured for people on a low income".

In fact, it has the poorest service access of all 27 wards in the borough, and among the worst in England.

East Donyland has a high number of people on means tested benefits, low levels of numeracy and literacy and one of the highest housing needs in the area, according to the study.

Prof Pretty said: "The Fordham profile picked up all kinds of exclusion issues, such as pensioners without means of travel, and no shops nearby.

"Such people feel very excluded, although they may have money.

"You find that in areas where there is quite a lot of income poverty there are also strong links between people."

He said one of the things the project aimed to do was look at poverty in a variety of ways, not just financial. Well-being, he said, was a decent indicator of poverty because it included not just wealth but also the opportunities available to people where they live.

So far the main success of the project has been drawing different groups to tackle poverty in a combined effort.

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