Our seaside town dubbed the UK’s ‘most deprived’ is plagued by litter and disease… now even our future here is in danger
RESIDENTS of a seaside town dubbed the UK’s “most deprived” have been told the future of their area is in danger.
Jaywick in Essex famously featured in the Channel 5 series Benefits By The Sea in 2015 and 2016 about the struggles of its residents on the breadline.
The town’s reputation took a further dive in 2019 when it was named as the most deprived neighbourhood in England for a third time in official Government figures.
Last year it became overran with disease – with an outbreak of canine parvovirus killing at least a dozen dogs.
And now, in another blow to its residents, fears are mounting that Jaywick’s flood defences could soon fail – plunging the area underwater.
Local councillor Dan Casey told The Express: “In 1953 we lost 35 people through the floods down here and if it came across the wall now there’s a lot more people that live down there, so I’d hate to even think [about it] and I just hope that day never comes.”
It comes after water came within two and half centimetres of topping the sea wall in 2013.
And Mr Casey says many of the homes and buildings on the seafront are not designed for flooding.
He said: “We’ve still got the same housing in the Brooklands area which is now basically 70, 80, 90 years old and, how would you say, they’re not really flood resilient and we live in a flood plain.
“You’ve got to look at what you’re going to do about the housing.”
For years, Jaywick has been blighted by documentaries that paint the 5,000-strong community as dossers, boozed-up benefits claimants and thugs.
Their reputation was further tarnished when a defender of then-President Donald Trump used an image of a rundown part of Jaywick in a poverty campaign.
The poster, which was made by politician Nick Stella, read: “Only YOU can stop this from becoming REALITY… Help President Trump keep America on track and thriving.”
A United Nations expert also visited the village in 2018, and highlighted the plight of its residents in his report about “extreme poverty” in the UK.
However, residents love living there and insist locals are the “friendliest and kindest people in the world”.
And despite the area’s rough reputation Jaywick was voted as the fifth best place to live in England in a poll earlier this year.
