The coastal community of Jaywick Sands may have the worst quality of life in England but it's still better than Blackpool – claims a man who has lived in both maligned towns.

A Government report in September branded a part of Jaywick, near Clacton-on-Sea, the most deprived neighbourhood for three years running, but sunny Blackpool laid claim to eight other top-ten spots.

The comprehensive report by the Ministry of Housing took into consideration everything from income and health to crime and education, but it hasn't stopped locals from proudly boasting it's the best place in the world to be.

Meanwhile recent reports from Blackpool paint a picture of a once jolly holiday resort blighted by poverty where "locals are forced to scrounge fag butts off the streets".

One bloke, who has lived in both the North and South's "worst" communities told the Daily Star Online it was his life's ambition to make the move down.

Holiday park handyman Gary, 50, who says he's lived all over the UK from Blackpool to Milton Keynes, has been in Jaywick for just three months but considers it a dream come true.

He says he knew the dilapidated former holiday resort had been slated as a "terrible place" before he came, and while some locals even call it a "pisshole", it didn't put him off one bit.

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“Rather the opposite – the sense of the community that is here is absolutely fantastic," he told The Daily Star while rolling a fag outside his seafront bungalow when we visited on October 2.

"Everybody looks out for each other. I have lived around a lot of the country – Blackpool and Milton Keynes, all over the show through work and bits and pieces–and I have never known a place like it."

Jaywick has become a potent symbol of broken Britain, with its crime, street drinking and substance abuse problems well documented in the scathing 2015, Channel 5 documentary Benefits by the Sea.

It, as well as successive Government reports, paint a picture benefit-cheating underclass on the edge – but for people like Gary wanting to start afresh, it is a place of hope.

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"Everyone is looking out for each other. They will give you their last cup of coffee if they wanted to if they thought that you needed it. If they haven’t got something and someone else has they will offer it," he said.

"This is why I am here, you can leave your door open here."

Street drinking is still a visible problem for the once popular beach resort, where red-faced residents amble past the shuttered amusement arcade and faded seaside-cafe signage with bags of cans.

Five years on from the Channel 5 documentary the overall impression is still that of a shanty town, with its clapped-out prefab bungalows and bin bags of rubbish and fly-tipped junk lining the streets.

But no where else can you get a house for such a good price either, says Gary, who lives in tiny refitted bungalow on the edge of the Brooklands Estate facing the sea wall and what the locals consider their own "private beach".

Gary, who didn't want to be pictured, said: "You can’t get a building like this [the house] this is brand new. I am renting it but I know the man that bought it and done it all up and watched him do it.

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"I knew I’d get a very decent property. I pay for it but it’s good. Around here you are maybe talking about £450 to £500 a month."

Gary, who says he does maintenance work at the nearby Martello caravan park, also revealed coming to Jaywick was a longstanding promise he wanted to fulfil to his son, who sadly passed away.

"My son and I walked down here when he first came here, and he is not with us now, but we said we was going to come here," he said. "We used to walk down here and walk up to Holland you could see the kind of place this is and now I am here, and I will be here…"

"You have got to be here to understand what this place is like. "

"So far [it's the best place I’ve lived], very much so," he added, offering over some Rizla fag papers to a neighbour in need, as though to prove his point.

Following our visit to Jaywick Cllr Paul Honeywood, Tendring District Council (TDC) Cabinet Member with special responsibility for Jaywick Sands, said: "The issues in Jaywick Sands are complex and if they were easy to fix they would have been solved years ago.

“Tendring District Council, along with the residents, will be here long after the media interest dies away working to help the area reach its full potential, and positive change is already happening.

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“We, working with our partners and the community, are doing a lot of work to address issues of deprivation.

“Short-term initiatives include action days tackling things such as fly-tipping and rogue waste carriers, and supporting the ongoing work of Dig4Jaywick and other community projects.

“Medium-term we are currently building ten new homes in the area, along with an electricity sub- station to support future growth, and have bought and demolished derelict eyesore sites to promote positive development."

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