Background

In 1992, local Woodvale residents identified a lack of both a community focal point and co-ordinated activities. Initially the group met in a disused school, but in 1999 (having secured charitable status) residents convinced the borough council to provide a purpose built community centre on the original site of the school.

Woodvale & Ainsdale Community Association (WACA) established itself as a charitable organisation based in the Woodvale area of Ainsdale, Southport. The new centre was as an integral part of a scheme to build a new housing estate and primary school for the area.

This area is covered by the Middle Super output area Sefton 011. It is an isolated and deprived estate which is surrounded by far more prosperous areas.

  • Sefton 011B is within Ainsdale ward and one of 189 LSOAs in Sefton local authority district.
  • According to the 2019 Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD), this particular area – Sefton 011B LSOA E01006924 ranks 3,523 out of 32,844 LSOAs (where a rank of 1 is the most deprived LSOA).
  • In 2019, this LSOA ranked within the 10% most deprived neighbourhoods in the country on the income domain, the employment domain and the health deprivation and disability domain
  • In 2015 this LSOA was ranked within the 20% most deprived neighbourhoods in the country for Income Deprivation Affecting Children and by 2019 the deprivation has increased showing the area ranking within the 10% most deprived
  • The Income Deprivation Affecting Older People is mostly unchanged and Sefton 011B is ranked within the 10% most deprived neighbourhoods in the country for this.

Source:  (http://dclgapps.communities.gov.uk/imd/iod_index.html#)

According to the Sefton Health Profile (2013), deprivation in the area is higher than average and 9800 children in Sefton live in poverty. There are different deprivation levels throughout Sefton, and Woodvale suffers with much higher levels of deprivation than the surrounding areas, with 1735 households suffering deprivation. Long term unemployment is much worse in Sefton (14.4%) than the average for England (9.5%)

WACA “area of benefit” has since increased to the boundaries of Ainsdale, with priority given to the deprived communities of Woodvale.