SEVERAL areas of Darlington are among the most deprived in the country, a new report reveals.

The town centre ranks within the top three per cent of poor areas in England, while Eastbourne South comes within the top four.

Cockerton West, Eastbourne North and Park East all fall within the top ten per cent for deprivation.

The figures, taken from the Government's Index of Multiple Deprivation, rank the 8,414 electoral wards in England according to prosperity.

Mowden is ranked at 7,713 - the only ward in Darlington to be listed among the most prosperous ten per cent in the country.

"Although Darlington has pockets of severe deprivation such as those in the worst five per cent nationally, there are also a significant number of people living within the worst 25 per cent of the country's wards," the Darlington Borough Council-produced report states.

"Over 50 per cent of the population of Darlington lives in the 13 wards ranked within the worst 25 per cent nationally."

The figures, with statistics on crime, education, health and income, are included in the Darlington Social Issues Map, produced by the council's external funding department.

It reveals that Northgate South has the most household burglaries; that the College ward has the second highest level of car theft after the town centre; and that Whessoe had no recorded incidents of violent crime in 2001/2002.

Northgate North has the highest level of unemployment in the town at 9.4 per cent, while Mowden has the lowest, at 1.2 per cent.

Forty per cent of children in Park East claim free school meals, compared with one per cent in Hummersknott and Hurworth.

Men and women in Darlington earn less per week than the national average and less than the average pay in the Tees Valley. Men in the town pick up £371 a week on average and women, £282.

The aim of the map is to provide the council and other organisations with information needed to apply for funding for community projects, including Government, European and lottery grants.

Richard Horniman, the council's principal economic regeneration officer, said: "The figures aren't surprising to us. The challenge is trying to do something about it."