A YEAR ago today an article on Weymouth in a national newspaper sparked a debate on the state of the town and seaside towns in general.

The article said that beyond the beach, Weymouth was ‘a place beset by low wages, lack of transport, isolation and poverty of aspiration'.

While many inner-city communities have benefited from hundreds of millions of pounds of investment, many coastal towns have suffered from rising unemployment and a lack of investment.

At the time, the Echo spoke to community leaders and councillors to see what was being done and what the main issues were.

One year on from the Observer article, entitled 'Sun, sand and inequality', reporter Alex Peace looks to see if anything has changed.

‘ISSUES have still got to be addressed’ – that’s the view of community leaders and councillors one year on from an article that labelled Weymouth as a ‘graveyard of ambition’.

Last year Littlemoor, Melcombe Regis, Portland Underhill and Westham were ranked in the top 20 per cent of the most deprived communities nationally, with community workers and councillors calling for more to be done.

Child poverty, income deprivation and high unemployment were some of the key issues in the wards.

Angie Barnes, who runs Soul Food, said in the past twelve months, very little has changed.

She said: “We’re seeing numbers increasing at Soul Food. I think it’d be wrong to say it has improved at all because we’re still getting the same problems through.”

Paul Kimber, councillor for Underhill, says issues have still got to be addressed for both Weymouth and Portland.

He said: “Some things have and some things haven’t got better.

“Housing is something I’m still being asked about and I am trying to support people that need assisting, the problem is high demand and low supply.

“I can say for Portland that issues have got to be addressed and if we get on to stores like Tesco and Co-op who are prominent on the island, they must do more than hand out leaflets, they must do much more in making people aware of the problems of things like drinking.”

Last year, the borough council granted more than £16,000 to community groups in the four wards as part of its Working with You project.

The action plan for the project is currently being updated and progress reports prepared.

Jane Nicklen, community planning and development manager for Weymouth and Portland Borough Council, said: “The council are continuing to be proactive with partners and the communities to deliver projects to meet locally identified priorities in these four areas.”

Angie Barnes wants to see more done to tackle homelessness and educate children in schools.

She said: “We need more funding for detox beds. Homelessness is a huge problem and we need more to be done.

“It’s about the council and the government taking responsibility but we need to be teaching real life skills in schools, children sometimes don’t realise the trouble you can get in to when you’re out of school.”

Margaret Baker, who spent 14 years working in Weymouth and is founder of the Dorchester Poverty Action Group, last year called for a community worker in each of the problem areas but believes financial restrictions means this still won’t happen.

She said: “I don’t think there is any evidence that anything is any better at all.

“There is regularly increasing cut backs. It’s an awful situation of feeling helpless.”

Cllr Gill Taylor, who last year called for more guidance in the volunteering sector, still believes more could be done to mobilise volunteers.

She said: “There is still an awful lot out there who want to volunteer who find it hard.

“I still think there are things a lot of held needed. There is a lot of potential for volunteering for people to help each other.”

The council is hoping to produce updated figures on deprivation in the area in July as well as producing the updated action plan and progress reports for the Working with You Project in June.