An atlas of austerity shows the rich still getting richer

Researchers at Sheffield University have created a series of maps reflecting the state of modern Britain. Chris Bond reports.

FIVE years ago phrases like “credit crunch” and the “squeezed middle” weren’t even part of our vocabulary.

Back then, the country was enjoying an economic boom blissfully unaware that, for many people, the good times were about to come grinding to a halt. Since then, of course, we’ve had the banking crisis and subsequent global economic crash and the so-called age of austerity ushered in by a raft of public sector cuts.

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In response to this social and economic upheaval, researchers at Sheffield University have created a unique atlas in a bid to create an authoritative record of the changing social geography of Britain. Bankrupt Britain: an atlas of social change, published by The Policy Press, shows how economic and social fortunes have been affected in different areas of the country.

The atlas, which includes around 90 maps based around data drawn from a variety of sources, focuses on financial, residential, political, moral, emotional and environmental aspects of life across Britain and examines how the banking crisis and the economic storm has affected both the poor and vulnerable in society as well as the rich.

It also looks at how the impact has varied according to where people live. For instance, the study says that Londoners are three times more inclined than residents living in the industrial Midlands to believe that “the economy is on the mend”.

Co-author of the atlas, Professor Danny Dorling, from Sheffield University’s department of geography, believes the atlas demonstrates that in too many ways social trends across the country are moving in the wrong direction.

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“In the wealthiest parts of London and the South East, people continue to be extremely well-paid, are becoming wealthier more rapidly, and still often have a lifestyle of hyper-consumption.

“But in much of the rest of the country, and especially for poorer groups, austerity has set in and living standards have fallen over the last five years,” he says.

Fellow co-author Dr Bethan Thomas, also from the university’s department of geography, says their research points to an economic and social imbalance. “Despite many people’s fears of a bankrupt – or broken – Britain, this remains one of the richest countries on earth, but the rich have not taken their fair share of austerity.”

But haven’t we heard all this before? “There has been research done on some of these issues and in terms of the general impact on jobs and the economy it is pretty much as you would expect, but they haven’t looked at what’s happening at a local level.

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“Places that were poorer to start off with have suffered the most, but if you look at house prices, for instance, they are falling right across the country but in parts of London and South East they’re actually rising.”

Dr Thomas says that environmental studies have yielded some interesting results, with household recycling rates in 2008/09 ranging from 15 per cent (in Newham, London), to 62 per cent (in Staffordshire) and in some areas recycling rates have fallen from the previous year.

“What’s interesting is that some of the richest areas seem to be among the worst when it comes to their impact on the environment while poorer areas are doing better.

“This is partly due to the fact that in areas where industry has collapsed there have been lower levels of pollution and a drop in emissions,” she says.

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This North-South divide has been talked about for decades so are we really seeing any noticeable change in Britain’s social landscape?

“There has always been this general North-South divide, but even in the south you have the super-rich in Kensington and Chelsea and the City who are leaving the rest of London behind.

“The Sunday Times Rich List was published recently which showed that the wealthiest people in Britain have seen their fortunes soar by a fifth in the past year, while much of the country is struggling to recover from the recession.

“But it’s not just the poorer sectors of society who have suffered, it’s the middle classes, too, and in terms of standard of living many are either standing still or sliding backwards.”

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Dr Thomas also warns that research like this may not be available in the future. “A lot of information data isn’t being collected now and surveys are being dropped because there isn’t the money to fund them, so this kind of snapshot of life in the early part of the 21st century might not be done again.”