LAST week, Jaywick found itself in the unenviable position of being branded the most deprived place in Britain. It is the second time in a row the coastal community has been tarnished with the title.

Hopes the label would act as a springboard for investment and regeneration seems to have come to nothing.

But are the fortunes of Brooklands and Grasslands about to change?

Someof the rotting lamp posts on Jaywick’s deprived Brooklands estate date backas far as the Queen’s coronation.

The rusting signs on the weathered poles were put up by the Jaywick Sands Freeholders Association in 1953 – also the year of the great flood.

Resident MickMasterson says they are testament to the decades of neglect suffered by Brooklands and Grasslands estates, which last week retained their unwanted title of Britain’s most deprived area.

“These lamp posts were put up in 1953 – that’s eight years after the end of the Second World War and 13 years before England won the World Cup in 1966,” said Mr Masterson.

“If you want evidence that Jaywick has been neglected over the years, then there it is.”

“They are rotten from the inside out and probably dangerous. But no one comes down to check on them. No one comes down here.

“We need to keep fighting and pushing.”

Gill Elkins, of Jaywick Community Forumand the Jaywick and Tudor Residents Association, was made an MBE for her services to the community. She was shocked when Jaywick topped the deprivation rankings again – five years after it first hit the headlines.

Many people thought the 2010 report would act as a catalyst for regeneration.

But closer inspection of the report offers a glimmer of hope.

“They used the 2013-14 figures,” said Mrs Elkins.

“A lot of the work that has been done down there wasn’t in those figures, which was disappointing.”

She points to the huge project which saw millions of pounds pumped into upgrading about 1,000 properties in the deprived ward with new boilers, windows and insulation.

More than £5million is also being spent resurfacing the community’s notorious potholed roads.

But Mrs Elkins admitted: “Not enough has been done. I know because of the financial downswing there has been a shortage of money, but we have had nothing from the EU or central government into Tendring, let alone into Jaywick where it could do good."

A consultation is currently being held to see what residents think will help kick-start regeneration in the community.

A Jaywick Future conference is being held on November 13 and 14 from 10am-3pm, St Christopher’s Church in Meadow Way.

It will be followed by a Jaywick Future exhibition the following weekend.

Mrs Elkins added: “I think people are beginning to realise things are slowly getting done, but like anything it takes time.”