Heath | Site Description
Like Canning Town, the Heath site in Dagenham is in the 2nd most deprived decile in the UK. Heath is one of the least ethnically diverse wards in Barking & Dagenham Borough, and one of the least ethnically diverse wards in the London Prosperity Board east London sites. The largest proportion of residents are White British. Unemployment is significantly higher in Heath, compared to the Borough as a whole
Heath Ward’s residents tend to live in Council Rented homes, and relatively few live in privately rented homes. The ward has a large number of older residents (over 65) who live alone, and a relatively high number of Lone Parent Households with Dependent Children. Walking around the Heath site, one notices that many households are living in detached or semi-detached houses, with some outdoor space and few local amenities.
Many of the residents and people who work at Barking & Dagenham council reference the closure of the Ford factory as a major turning point in the area’s history. 1,000 jobs were lost and people struggled to find decent work in an era of changing technology and higher formal educational expectations. Barking & Dagenham council is leading major redevelopment and regeneration projects in the borough, focusing on building businesses and skills training of local residents. .
Further information
How prosperous do people in Heath feel?
In 2017, households in the Heath research site were surveyed to find out how prosperous people feel. The survey asked questions about the factors that people said were important to their prosperity in the 2015 research. The survey asked questions about livelihood security, housing and work, the opportunities and public services people have access to, how they feel about the future and their local community, inclusion, fairness and whether they feel they have a voice in local decision-making.
The survey results and some secondary data were used to create the UK’s first citizen-led Prosperity Index, which compares the levels of prosperity in Heath to the average for Greater London. Below is the Headline Indicator Scorecard for the Heath research site, which shows the results using a 10 point scale where 1 is low (red), 5 is the Greater London average (yellow) and 10 is high (green). For example, an Index score of 2.2 for Real Household Disposable Income means the Heath research site has a higher than average percentage of households reporting very low levels of monthly disposable income after taxes, housing costs, utility bills and debt repayments have been made. And an Index score of 4.3 for Good Jobs means that a higher percentage of people in Heath are employed in temporary contracts, are earning below minimum income standards or are unemployed than the Greater London average.
Information about the measures in the Prosperity Index and how it is compiled can be found here.
Heath Prosperity Index Scorecard based on household survey in 2017. Institute for Global Prosperity, published 2019.