Like Merthyr Tydfil, Blaenau Gwent can be found on the fringes of the Brecon Beacons. A parliamentary seat once held by Aneurin Bevan - the Secretary of State responsible for founding the National Health Service - there's a stone monument here commemorating him.
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Blaenau has made our countdown thanks to a distinct lack of shops, cinemas and theatres. Blaenau's economy is also bleak with just one job for every two people. At least the sun shines, you might think! But no! Blaenau gets a lot more rain than most.
What this place needs is hope and fresh investment and luckily specialist experts predict that all types of property round here could increase in value by a whopping 56 per cent in the next 5 years!
Reminiscent of much of the Welsh Valleys, it takes in both stretches of lush, green landscapes as well as the scars of a bleakly industrial past, with a number of pits and furnaces among the listed buildings in the area. The many country parks, open spaces, lakes and moorlands are among the more eye-catching examples of scenery.
A resolutely sunny disposition is arguably a requirement for living in Blaenau Gwent, which - among men at least - has a suicide rate which is the highest in Wales and among the highest in the UK. Hope is at hand, though, for those looking for a more urbane outlook, as Cardiff is only a short journey and a big grin away.
Further good news comes in the shape of the relatively low crime rate, as the rate of household burglaries per thousand of the population (2.9) falls below the national average, indicating that this is among the safer places to live in Wales, despite being ranked the ninth least desirable place to live in 2006 and seventh the previous year. Things look to be on the up in terms of house prices, which have risen 17 per cent on 2006 to £113,000, although this still falls below the UK average.
Future prospects in the area look less inviting, though. Few residents are likely to make that brief trip to the university city of Cardiff for a few years of higher education, given that nearly 26 per cent of its population hold no qualifications whatsoever, which is virtually double the national average.
The state of the local job market appears equally grim. Unemployment among male workers is nearly twice the national average (10.9 per cent compared with 5.8 per cent), while women earn on average £7.20 per hour, just over £3 per hour below the mean national rate of pay.
<< Go back to the index to learn about more places in the top and bottom 20
Have your say and see what other people are saying about Blaenau Gwent and the other 433 UK boroughs >>
Find out which borough came 7th in 2007 >>
Local area info on Blaenau Gwent from upmystreet.com >>
The Works - a regeneration project to redevelop the former Ebbw Vale steelworks site >>
Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council regeneration project >>
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