THE most deprived areas of Taunton have been revealed in the latest 2021 census results.

The figures come as part of a more detailed set of results from the snapshot of England and Wales captured in March last year.

As part of the 2021 census, households in England and Wales were classified in terms of four different "dimensions of deprivation", which are based on certain characteristics.

The first is where any member of a household, who is not a full-time student, is either unemployed or long-term sick, and the second covers households where no person has at least five or more GCSE passes or equivalent qualifications, and no 16 to 18-year-olds at the home are full-time students.

The third dimension is where any person in the household has general health that is “bad” or “very bad” or has a long-term health problem, and the fourth where the household’s accommodation is either overcrowded or is in a shared dwelling, or has no central heating.

Office for National Statistics (ONS) data show 49.6 per cent of households in Somerset West and Taunton were deprived in at least one of these "dimensions" when the most recent census was carried out.

It meant the area was largely in line with the average across England and Wales​, of 51.7 per cent.

In Taunton and the immediate surrounding areas, the five with the highest deprivation rates were:

  1.  Taunton Pryland & Priorswood - 61.2% of households here were deprived in at least one dimension at the time of the 2021 census.
  2.  Taunton Holway & Lambrook - 60% of households here were deprived in at least one dimension at the time of the 2021 census.
  3.  Taunton Wilton - 51.4% of households here were deprived in at least one dimension at the time of the 2021 census.
  4. Ruishton and North Curry - 48.6% of households here were deprived in at least one dimension at the time of the 2021 census. 
  5. Taunton North - 45.7% of households here were deprived in at least one dimension at the time of the 2021 census.

Elsewhere in the Somerset West and Taunton district, the most deprived area is Watchet, Washford and Carhampton where 59.4% of households here were deprived in at least one dimension at the time of the 2021 census.