article: Public policy researcher Dr Mark Lang said his study in Pontypool, Torfaen, showed real diversity within a single town. What this type of "deep place" research does is look in fine detail at different neighbourhoods and avoid generalisations with both stereotypes and statistics. He believes looking at economic data on too-wide a scale can miss entrenched pockets of poverty within communities, which on the face of it look to be doing well. "Pontypool is a real mixture of people clearly with little money and people who are relatively affluent, living in close proximity," he said. "Many of those who don't have a great deal of resources use the town centre while those who do have, tend by and large not to come here. As a focus of community attention, I think that's a shame." Dr Lang, who has published similar work about Tredegar, is hoping the approach can help create jobs and revitalise town centres. Pontypool is a town with a population of about 23,400, six miles south of the Blaenavon world heritage site. Its iron forging dates back to Tudor times and the "Pontypool front row" were Wales rugby stars the 1970s. Nearly 3,700 people live on the Trevethin estate, over the Afon Lwyd river, which stands on a hill overlooking the town centre, a mile away. More than half of those are in a part of the estate - classified as "Trevethin 1" - which all figures point to as being the poorest area. It also has the densest population and the largest proportion (28.3%) of under-15s. POCKETS OF POVERTY Source: All Around Us - The Pontypool Deep Place Study When looking at relative economic deprivation, Wales is split up into 1,900 different districts. "Trevethin 1" is classed as 35th most deprived in this often-used index. Three other districts in Pontypool come into the top 20% most deprived in Wales. Trevethin also scores 22nd worst in Wales when it comes to health factors. A total of 60% of housing in Trevethin is rented. There is plenty of visible work going on to improve housing by Bron Afon, the social enterprise which has rented homes in place of the council for the past eight years. Torfaen council, with £8.2m from the Welsh Government's Vibrant and Viable places programme, has earmarked money for housing improvements and regenerating town centre properties. This report points to the link between poverty and rent arrears - and there are 5,475 homes owing money in Trevethin. At the heart of the report is the argument that local solutions are needed to tackle these very local problems. This means "far greater empowerment" of people and local communities. VIEWS FROM THE MARKET STALLS A key part of the report looked at Pontypool town centre, which "needs to be designed as the heart of the community" and its future prosperity will depend on local people's continued relationship with it. This includes a "concerted effort" to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour to make it a place to go in the evenings. Pontypool Indoor Market dates back more than 120 years but
summary: Sometimes living in Wales it is too easy to look around and conclude there are simply "rich" areas and "poor" areas.