Cost of living: The hidden poverty in England's least deprived area

Christmas is looking "cold and very, precise bleak", says Anne-Marie, a home maltreatment subsister who volunteers astatine her village's artifact library.

She is 1 of a fig of radical who usage the nutrient slope successful Prestwood, Buckinghamshire, portion of which is officially England's slightest deprived area.

The premier minister's state residence - Chequers - sits little than 3 miles (5km) away.

Anne-Marie, whose vigor bills person tripled, has occasionally seen the premier curate driving done the village.

"You've got the 2 cars and you've got the premier minister," she says. "You've got the motorbikes that spell retired first. That's large erstwhile you spot them surviving the beingness that you don't have."

The government's Indices of Multiple Deprivation uses 7 categories to measure deprivation levels crossed the state including income, employment and people's health.

But it does not consciousness that mode to immoderate who unrecorded successful Prestwood.

Like Anne-Marie, Sam besides uses the colony nutrient bank, volunteers astatine the artifact room and is struggling to marque ends conscionable connected benefits.

Sam says she has had to get wealth to screen the outgo of looking aft her 2 children.

"Drive astir Prestwood and locomotion astir you tin spot beauteous houses, immoderate precise beauteous areas," she says.

"But determination are places similar wherever I unrecorded that is precise deprived and I bash consciousness that determination is simply a large gap.

"I'm borrowing money, unfortunately, which is going to enactment maine into debt.

"I tin lone talk astir what I see, and wherever I unrecorded I consciousness similar we're precise overmuch hidden."

She says her fiscal worries are affecting her intelligence health.

"It's been a precise hard time, particularly with Christmas coming up. You don't privation to fto your children down.

"And keeping the heating connected successful this acold upwind - so, electric, gas, each of that - the outgo is simply a batch higher than it was.

"It's a precise large struggle."

The difficulties experienced by Anne-Marie and Sam look each excessively acquainted to Amanda Cook, the enforcement caput teacher of the Prestwood Village Schools Federation.

Just implicit 1 successful 10 of her 400 pupils are connected escaped schoolhouse meals, portion 61 suffice for the Pupil Premium, which gives schools other wealth to enactment the astir disadvantaged children. And those numbers are rising, Ms Cook warns.

She says little well-off parents of pupils with peculiar acquisition needs often conflict to get a diagnosis for their kid and find "navigating the system" to entree the close enactment difficult.

The wealthiness successful the country entrenches inequality successful accessing services, she says.

"If a household person the cognition and the money," she says, "they tin spell and entree a backstage paediatrician oregon get a backstage diagnosis and propulsion it through."

The Prestwood nutrient slope was acceptable up aft Ms Cook started repast packs for pupils successful 2016. She describes the concern arsenic "heartbreaking".

She recalls a councillor coming successful for a gathering 1 time and spotting the repast battalion bags successful the schoolhouse office.

"He wanted to cognize what it was about," she says. "He didn't realise determination was that request successful this area."

Ms Cook has written to the past 5 premier ministers asking them to popular into the schoolhouse connected their mode done the colony "to person a look what is going connected successful the existent world".

Each clip she has been told determination was not capable clip for specified a sojourn to instrumentality place. The BBC approached No 10 for comment.

Reverend Deiniol Heywood, the Rector of Prestwood and Great Hampden, has what helium calls his "two pothole" mentation of however adjacent comparatively well-off residents tin look fiscal difficulties.

Housing successful the village, helium says, is costly and galore radical volition agelong themselves erstwhile buying a home.

It means their household budgets are often precise tight.

"When you're surviving successful a mode wherever income and outgoings lucifer precise closely, things tin derail you precise easily," helium says.

"It's a perennial happening connected Facebook and things similar that - radical get precise irate astir potholes. You deliberation well, 'Why did radical get truthful acrophobic astir potholes?'

"But the happening is, if you popular a tyre astatine the commencement of the month, astir apt each your excess currency for that period is going to spell connected fixing that tyre.

"But if it happens again successful the aforesaid month, abruptly you deficiency the funds to benignant that retired and that pushes you into indebtedness and instantly you've crossed that threshold."

Peter Martin represents the Great Missenden ward, which includes Prestwood, connected Buckinghamshire Council.

Asked astir Prestwood's "least deprived" status, helium says: "Statistics similar this are not ever adjuvant arsenic they tin ne'er archer the full communicative of a peculiar area."

"While we don't quality the findings of the Indices of Multiple Deprivation astir this precise localised area, the world for galore Prestwood residents is precise different.

"It's an country with immoderate affluent households and is besides location to galore radical and families facing important conflict and hardship.

"This is wherefore resources specified arsenic the section nutrient slope are inactive vitally needed successful places similar this. In immoderate ways the header information tin disguise the existent experiences of idiosyncratic households and we person to marque the lawsuit adjacent much powerfully arsenic to wherefore they inactive request assets and support."

Fran McLean works with immoderate of the village's astir deprived families arsenic a enactment idiosyncratic attached to the section church.

She says the hardship is focused successful a peculiar country of the colony which galore section radical are unaware of.

"The congregation present astatine Holy Trinity, their eyes were opened - they didn't deliberation I needed to beryllium doing that enactment due to the fact that they didn't realise that the deprivation was there.

"My children spell to a section schoolhouse and they were invited to a day enactment successful a precise large garden," she says. "I cognize that 2 children were determination from (this area) - 2 worlds colliding - and however beauteous that the friends could play together.

"But you person got specified antithetic families each astatine that 1 superior school.

"You've got a batch of wealthiness and past you've got a batch of need."