Areas in Oxford are officially described as deprived, despite the county being named this week as one of the richest districts in Europe.

A study by research group Experian has earmarked Oxfordshire, together with neighbouring counties Berkshire and Buckinghamshire, as likely to become Europe's fastest growing region over the next five years.

The three counties saw the highest growth in the UK between 1998 and 2003, with Gross Domestic Product increasing by 4.4 per cent. The GDP is the total value of all the goods and services produced, including everything we consume, everything the Government purchases, all business investment, and all of our exports to the rest of the world, minus the imports we take in from the rest of the world.

But within Oxfordshire there are still pockets of poverty and deprivation, according to the South England Development Agency (Seeda).

The agency has identified deprived areas in parts of Greater Leys, Blackbird Leys, Barton and Sandhills, Rose Hill and Iffley, Littlemore, Cutteslowe, Northway and Wood Farm.

Until last year, Seeda officially listed Oxford wards Blackbird Leys and Littlemore as deprived. Now the city's 24 wards have been divided into 86 so-called "super output areas" in order to pinpoint more accurately their character- istics.

Liz McSheehy, Seeda's area director for Oxfordshire said: "Over the last five years, Seeda has awarded approximately £5.2m to areas of deprivation in Oxfordshire to help develop the capacity of local groups and individuals and build a stronger community." Oxford City Council social inclusion officer Julie Higgs said: "There are spots of deprivation even in the wealthy north of the city, in Cutteslowe, for example."

Chairman of the Oxfordshire Chamber of Commerce Keith Slater said: "It's been quite obvous for a number of years that the Oxfordshire economy is expanding, but perhaps few of us would have thought it was expanding as fast as Experian says.

"But there is pressure on a number of resources such as roads where we see congestion, and of course there is the high price of houses."

The number of people claiming unemployment benefit in Oxfordshire has fallen for the fifth consecutive month. New figures issued yesterday showed the county's claimant count fell from 3,863 in June to 3,725 in July.

The only area to see a rise was Oxford, which saw number increase by ten to 1,555.