Census shows the most up-and-coming areas in Milton Keynes - and the results are really surprising

A special scrutiny into household deprivation has shown the estates and towns in MK that have improved the most over a decade.

The survey compared the ‘household deprivation score’ of each of MK’s 35 areas, judging them on four different measures: unemployment, low qualification levels, poor health and bad housing.

It compared their deprivation ranking in the 2011 census to their score in the 2021 census.

The results in MK proved surprising, with estates such as Fishermead and parts of Bletchley coming out in the top five ‘most improved’ areas.

Top of the improved list is Bletchley South, where 30.8% of households not deprived in any way in the 2011 census. By 2021, 45.0% were judged to be not deprived.

And the least improved list includes Westcroft and Shenley Brook End, Willen & Downhead Park, and Furzton. All these were shown to be more deprived in 2021 than they were in 2011.

Westcroft & Shenley Brook came bottom of the list. In 2011 61.1% were judged now to be deprived. A decade later, the figure had only risen slightly to 61.2%.

Across England and Wales as a whole, more than half of households (52%) were deprived in at least one of these four possible ways when the census took place in 2021 - that’s 12.8 million households.

But this is a fall from the decade before, when the figure was 58%.

The census also divides England and Wales into more than 7,000 smaller areas of between 5,000 and 15,000 residents, called middle-layer super output areas.

Here are the areas of Milton Keynes where the proportion of deprived households fell the most between 2011 and 2021. Number 1 is the area that has shown the most improvement.

The first percentage figure is the number of households not deprived in any way in the 2011 census. The second shows the number of non-deprived households 10 years later, in 2021.

Bletchley South 30.8% 45.0% Central Milton Keynes & Newlands 33.3% 46.7% Denbigh 26.1% 33.8% Eaglestone & Fishermead 27.1% 34.5% Bletchley East 33.9% 41.1% Wolverton & New Bradwell 46.6% 53.2% Linford Wood 35.1% 40.7% Bletchley North West 36.6% 42.1% Hanslope, Castlethorpe & Sherington 55.4% 59.7% Bletchley West 44.4% 48.3% Newport Pagnell South 54.6% 58.4% Far Bletchley 40.4% 44.1% Bow Brickhill & Woburn Sands 57.7% 61.3% Oldbrook & Coffee Hall 37.0% 40.6% Stony Stratford & Old Wolverton 48.4% 51.8% Stacey Bushes & Fullers Slade 26.5% 29.8% Loughton 52.5% 55.3% Two Mile Ash 51.3% 53.7% Stantonbury & Bradville 36.7% 38.8% Bradwell Common 41.1% 42.9% Newport Pagnell North 50.6% 52.4% Bradwell Village 50.5% 51.6% Walnut Tree & Tilbrook 53.0% 54.1% Great Linford & Giffard Park 48.0% 49.0% Olney & Lavendon 59.0% 59.9% Woughton & Woolstone 51.9% 52.3% Tattenhoe & Emerson Valley 60.2% 60.5% Furzton 49.5% 49.7% Willen & Downhead Park 49.3% 49.4% Westcroft & Shenley Brook End 61.1% 61.2%

Broughton East, Fairfields & Grange Farm, Broughton West & Milton Keynes Village, Shenley Wood & Crownhill, and Kents Hill have not been included in the survey as their current boundaries did not exist in the 2011 census.

Broughton West & Milton Keynes VillageN/A: boundary did not exist in 2011 61.3% N/A N/A

Kents HillN/A: boundary did not exist in 2011 54.0% N/A N/A