Blackpool is 'most deprived seaside town'

Blackpool is the most poverty-stricken out of 31 seaside towns, the study found

Blackpool is the poorest of England's larger seaside towns, despite attracting the most visitors, a study has found.

The Office for National Statistics said it had the highest level of deprivation of 31 seaside towns analysed.

The study also analysed deprivation among medium-sized towns and found the Skegness and Ingoldmells resort, in Lincolnshire, fared worst.

The study considered data on health, housing and employment from 2010.

Of the 31 large towns, 25 had a higher level of deprivation than the average for England as a whole.

Among the 31, 26.9% of areas were considered deprived, compared with 20% of England overall.

After Blackpool, the next most deprived towns were Clacton in Essex and Hastings in East Sussex.

A spokesman for the ONS said: "Analysis has considered levels of deprivation in larger English seaside destinations, which may have once thrived on seaside resort tourism.

"There is a perception that these economies have declined and are enduring high levels of deprivation as a result of people going on holiday abroad rather than in England."

Earlier in the month government think tank the Centre for Social Justice released a report which found some seaside towns were stuck in a cycle of poverty with "severe social breakdown".

Lytham St Annes in Lancashire, Christchurch and Poole in Dorset, Worthing in West Sussex, Southport in Merseyside and Bognor Regis in West Sussex were the six towns to buck the trend with lower than average levels of deprivation.