BARNSLEY has been named as one of the most deprived areas in the country following a recent government study - and three areas are among the top 500 most deprived in England.

The Index of Multiple Deprivation looks at living conditions across an area - but does not mean that everyone in a highly deprived neighbourhood will be struggling, nor will all those in a less deprived area be well off.

The latest figures from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government show that Barnsley is the 40th most deprived area out of a possible 296 across the country.

It also shows that more than a fifth - 22 per cent - of areas in the town are classed as ‘highly deprived’.

It’s more than double the national average which stands at just ten per cent.

Each area’s overall deprivation level is based on its rank across seven categories.

Those categories are income, employment, education and skills, health and disability, crime, barriers to housing and living environment.

The most deprived area in Barnsley is Lundwood, which is the 459th worst-off area in the country out of a possible 33,000.

Another is in Cudworth - around Darfield Road - which stands at the 475th most deprived.

The other is Worsbrough, an area often deemed as one of the most deprived in the town.

Leader of Barnsley Council and Cudworth councillor Sir Steve Houghton told the Chronicle that the council is doing ‘the right things’ to improve its levels of deprivation.

He said: “A lot of these places that have high levels of deprivation also have high levels of economic inactivity.

“We need to work with them to try and get them back into work through our Pathways to Work scheme.

“If you want to get out of deprivation, you need more and better houses, more and better jobs and more and better businesses.

“That gives me some comfort because our projects are about doing all of those things.

“We know that is Barnsley health is poor.

“So schemes like ‘Health on the High Street’ and ‘How’s thi Ticker?’ are there to help.

“We’re doing the right things.”

He added that Barnsley has been hit hard by 15 years of ‘austerity’ from the Tory government - and he says he does not want those same people back in power.

“We’ve faced serious austerity in the last 15 years,” he said.

“We’ve lost over a billion pounds in that time.

“Those same people in power with the Tories are now transferring to Reform.

“What we don’t need is those people back in government.”

However, there are areas of Barnsley which are less deprived than the majority of the country.

They include Silkstone Common, Hoylandswaine and Redbrook.

Barnsley North MP Dan Jarvis told the Chronicle: “There are many, many reasons we can be proud to call Barnsley our home - but that doesn’t mean we can’t acknowledge that there are some challenges.

“Successive governments promised to ‘Level Up’, but these figures show that they failed to invest properly in Barnsley.

“I’m proud to serve in a Labour government that is backing up our words with action - and investment.

“Our new devolution bill and children’s development funding - including £500m for early years and £1bn in crisis support - will help us shift the dial on poverty, as will the cash injection Barnsley received from Labour’s Plan for Neighbourhoods.

“We will tackle deprivation head on.”