What are the major sources of neighbourhood dissatisfaction in England? What sort of people are the most likely to be dissatisfied with their neighbourhoods? Research using data from the Survey of English Housing in combination with the Census by Roger Burrows and David Rhodes at the Centre for Housing Policy at the University of York found that:

• The most widespread source of neighbourhood dissatisfaction is crime. Over one-fifth of householders perceive crime to be a major problem in their area. Other major sources of neighbourhood dissatisfaction for 10 per cent or more of householders are: problems with dogs; poor leisure facilities; high levels of vandalism; and litter and rubbish in the streets.
• Forty-four per cent of householders reported no major problem or issues relating to their areas which they considered serious. Just over one quarter reported one problem that they considered serious, 14 per cent identified two problems and seven per cent identified three problems. However, almost ten per cent of all householders identified four or more serious problems or issues with their area.
• Householders expressing high levels of neighbourhood dissatisfaction were found in all tenure groups. For example: amongst home-owners, 13 per cent of those living in terraced houses or flats in the North of England expressed high levels of neighbourhood dissatisfaction; amongst households renting privately, 35 per cent of those headed by someone from a semi-skilled manual social class living in London or Northern England expressed high levels of neighbourhood dissatisfaction; and amongst households living in social housing, 42 per cent in North East England headed by an unemployed person expressed high levels of neighbourhood dissatisfaction.
• The places estimated to contain very dissatisfied households are wards characterised in official classifications as: social housing in London; high-rise housing; deprived industrial areas with heavy industry; inner London; cosmopolitan London; deprived industrial areas with large minority ethnic populations; and areas of low amenity housing in deprived city areas.
• A comparison of residents' own assessments of their neighbourhoods with the available indices of deprivation, shows that the Breadline Britain index matches most closely and the DETR Local Conditions Measure provides the poorest match. If policy makers were guided by this geography of neighbourhood dissatisfaction, rather than by existing measures, when targeting resources, the North-East of England would fare much better than it currently does.

Introduction

Identifying disadvantaged areas is not always a simple matter. Perceptions of the geography of poverty are highly sensitive to the measurement tools used and contemporary policy-makers are now confronted with a profusion of such measures.

Although the construction of these various measures can be a matter of much technical complexity, the choice of which to use is anything but academic. The use of one measure over another in targeting social spending can, on occasion, lead to very different results, in that the rank order of deprivation scores varies significantly between indices. For policy-makers, researchers, activists and residents concerned with the regeneration of particular neighbourhoods the issue is crucial. In the scramble for resources, it would be very helpful if there could be at least some consensus as to the localities which should be prioritised. But which index - if any - should we use to identify such areas?

There is, of course, no simple answer to this question. However, it might be interesting to know if the areas which existing indices identify as disadvantaged are the same areas that those living there would identify as such. Is the map of neighbourhood disadvantage generated by existing indices the same as that which results when one pays close and systematic attention to what residents are saying about their local environments? If existing indices are to be used as a basis for identifying disadvantaged areas for area regeneration programmes and if policy-makers are to take residents' views seriously, then it becomes important to know the extent to which residents' views about their neighbourhoods coincide with the various maps of area disadvantage currently drawn upon by policy-makers and social researchers.

Using data from the Survey of English Housing (SEH) it is possible to examine the socio-economic characteristics of those residents who express high levels of dissatisfaction with their neighbourhoods. These results can then be combined with data from the Census to estimate the spatial distribution of such residents at ward level in England. The resulting 'geography of misery' can then be compared with a range of existing indices of area disadvantage.

What are people dissatisfied about?

The most widespread cause of high levels of area dissatisfaction relates to crime (see Table 1).

Over one-fifth of respondents perceive crime to be a major problem in their area. Other major sources of dissatisfaction which affect 10 per cent or more households are: problems with dogs; poor leisure facilities; high levels of vandalism; and rubbish in
the streets.