AS constituencies go, Bournemouth East is a beauty, boasting miles of sandy beaches, the wildlife haven of Hengistbury Head and the town’s last remaining strip of green belt land.

But you do not need to look too far beyond the facade to find real problems with poverty and deprivation.

At the heart of the constituency is Boscombe West, which contains the worst pocket of deprivation in the entire south west region.

It’s statistics are so bad – 32 per cent of children in the ward are classified as living in poverty, 34.5 per cent of households are officially overcrowded, life expectancy for men is lower than anywhere else in the borough and only slightly better for women – that Bournemouth council made the regeneration of Boscombe one of its top priorities.

Efforts have been made to try and reduce the number of drug and alcohol rehabilitation centres operating in the ward, to improve the condition of the many flats and bedsits and to try and encourage more families to settle in the area.

But securing permanent change is a big ask and even the least deprived area of Boscombe, the area around the seafront, ranks within the top 20 per cent most deprived “Lower Super Output Areas” nationally.

Away from Boscombe West, the constituency is very diverse. Areas like Redhill and Northbourne have large elderly populations, Throop and Muscliff and Moordown are favourites with young families while Queen’s Park, Littledown and Southbourne have some of the most expensive property in the constituency. There are large areas of council and social housing too, notably in Townsend and Strouden Park, and areas, like Springbourne and Boscombe West, where more people rent than own their own home.

According to the Office for National Statistics, 17.3 per cent of the population are aged 65 or over and 18.5 are state pension claimants. Despite its pockets of deprivation, 81.1 per cent of residents are in general good health.

But a lack of affordable housing is an issue, with an average house price is £202,000, more than ten times the average income of £19,800.

Almost seventy per cent of those aged between 16 and 64 are employed and 7.5 per cent of those aged over 16 are unemployed. Almost a quarter of families in the constituency benefit from child and work tax credits.

The average age is 34 and just 15.9 per cent of residents were not born in the UK, although Queens Park and Charminster is one of the most ethnically diverse parts of Bournemouth.

Tobias Ellwood has been the Conservative MP for the ward since 2005, winning 45 per cent of the vote initially and then increasing that to 48.4 per cent in 2010. His majority is 7,728.

The seat has only existed since 1974 and has only ever returned a Conservative MP – John Cordle, David Atkinson and Mr Ellwood.