PARTS of the upper dales are among the most deprived in the country, according to a Government report.

Four of the five wards in North Yorkshire's upper dales division are among the 41 most deprived in the UK's 32,000 council wards. The fifth - Hawes and High Abbotside - ranks 171st worst.

One critic said the Government's failure to tackle rural social exclusion had worsened the situation in deeply rural areas over the last four years.

The statistics are contained in the 2004 Index of Multiple Deprivation, published by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.

The barriers to housing and services section of the report measures affordability of housing, the difference between local incomes and property prices, homelessness and overcrowding of homes and access to services such as schools, doctors and sports facilities.

Addlebrough ward, in upper Wensleydale, is 21st worst in the UK, with Reeth and Arkengarthdale 23rd, Swaledale 30th and Penhill 41st. Several other Richmondshire wards feature, including Lower Wensleydale (55th), Gilling West (60th), Newsham with Eppleby (76th) and Bolton Castle (134th).

Coun John Blackie, leader of Richmondshire District Council and county councillor for the upper dales, said the report highlighted the growing gap between wages and property prices in the Dales. Homes were often overcrowded because grown-up children could not afford to move out of their parents' house and homelessness was boosted by young people who could not remain at home but who had nowhere else to go.

When housing problems were coupled with lack of access to services, as highlighted in the index, rural communities were in danger of dying, said Coun Blackie.

"In 2000, the results of the index were followed by Government funding which concentrated on urban deprivation," he said. "The only index in 2000 that didn't attract any central Government funding for rural issues was access to services, which is why the situation now is even worse than it was four years ago."

The Government must recognise that rural deprivation, while different from that in towns and cities, was just as serious.

Development of rented accommodation, homes set aside for occupation by local people, and work to improve the quality of jobs on offer in the Dales would help.

The index will be discussed at a meeting of North Yorkshire County Council's Richmondshire area committee at Middleham Key Centre on Monday