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David Blunkett: A tale of two cities and the challenge to tackle deprivation
I HAVE always been immensely proud of Sheffield and of the way in which it has weathered past troubles.
Throughout the 1980s, policies were visited on us from on high wherein tens of thousands of high-skilled jobs were lost, with profound social consequences – and yet the
city was the only one not affected by riots and disturbances in
that grim decade. We have a sense of community and social cohesion which sustains us through difficult times like today's recession.
I, therefore, have every faith in Sheffielders being able to navigate the present storm – but that doesn't mean to say that local and central government should make their job even harder. The lessons of Sheffield need to be learned, to ensure that modest improvements in tackling inequality across the country are not reversed in the years to come.
Earlier this year, I commissioned the internationally-renowned Professor of Human Geography at the University of Sheffield, Danny Dorling, to examine the inequalities which persist.
Not for nothing is the report entitled A Tale of Two Cities. The gulf in achievement and social mobility between the affluent Hallam constituency and my own area of Brightside is plain for all to see. Hallam could almost be an entirely different city, such are the differences in wealth, health and aspiration.
This is no party political knockabout. There is a deep philosophical divide between those who believe that there is not only such a thing as community, but that the critical influences which affect outlook and behaviour can only be tackled by targeting the neighbourhood and the locality as a whole.
In every part of this city, and across our country, there are individuals and families facing disadvantage. But when such disadvantage is reinforced by the intensity of geographically-based deprivation, we can only bring about transformation by focusing on that critical mass.
The scale of the task is obvious. Children in the centre of the city have a much lower chance of going to the secondary school of their choice and are less likely to stay on at the age of 16. For every person in Brightside with a degree, there are four in Hallam.
In my constituency between 2005 and 2007, over 700 people died or were injured on the roads. In Hallam, the figure was a staggering 143 per cent lower. People in the richer areas are simply more aware of the dangers – and the result is a toll in death and injury which should shame the local authority in particular into action.
Unfortunately, as the report makes clear, we are in danger in Sheffield of not simply failing to tackle these disparities but, in fact, exacerbating them. It is a danger which we must guard against across England from Leeds to Hull and York to Manchester – cities across England where historical disadvantage is just starting to be turned around, where gaps are starting to be narrowed and where progress could be so easily undone.
This Government has done so much in terms of poverty, with the minimum wage, higher employment, record levels of child benefit and SureStart. But these measures are only just starting to bear fruit and some will only yield results in years to come.
So while there has been no "day zero" when all the action taken has suddenly had a dramatic impact on what are historic and entrenched inequalities, what is clear is that, with the economic downturn driving up unemployment and damaging family incomes, the last thing that we should do – at both local and national level – is withdraw the very services and support which have thrown a lifeline to people who have historically been without help to lift their aspirations and escape
from deprivation.
This report is a wake-up call to to local authorities to rethink their approach to distributing resources, but also to the Government, which should look again at the way in which it distributes grants to cities.
For instance, if Hallam were to be discounted and the north and east of Sheffield (an area the size of Leicester) treated as facing deprivation in their own right, they would be entitled to all kinds of support and grants for unemployment and financial inclusion which could concentrate support where it is most needed.
As such, it is imperative that we target resources at those people and those areas in the most need. If we do not, we will simply condemn some neighbourhoods to renewed deprivation for years, perhaps decades, to come.
David Blunkett is the Sheffield Brightside MP. He was Home Secretary from 2001-05.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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