HOME buyers in the Williton area could save an average of £1,000 the next time they buy a house after the Government announced plans to scrap stamp duty in England's most deprived areas.

The Williton county council electoral ward - which includes Watchet - rates among the most poverty-stricken areas in the country according to the '2000 Index of Deprivation'.

On Tuesday, Chancellor Gordon Brown outlined plans to abolish stamp duty in some 2,000 wards across England in a bid to encourage investment and encourage enterprise.

But West Somerset and Bridgwater MP Ian Liddell-Grainger said he was "absolutely mortified" that Williton was the only ward in his constituency to be included.

"I would have expected Alcombe to be on the list, never mind some of the poorer parts of the constituency such as Hamp, in Bridgwater. Really, half of the constituency is an area of rural deprivation."

The axe officially falls on the tax today (Friday) for people buying residential properties up to the value of £150,000.

The scheme will then be extended to include business properties next year.

Stamp duty is calculated at a rate of one per cent of the total cost of the price of a property, meaning someone buying a £50,000 property would pay £500 in tax, while a £100,000 property would rack-up a tax bill of £1,000.

Welcoming the announ-cement, Regeneration Minister Lord Falconer, said: "This is great news for businesses and homeowners in some of our poorest areas.

"It will encourage both to locate and thrive in wards that badly need investment."

The electoral wards of Williton, Watchet and Minehead were identified as being the most deprived in West Somerset in a report published by the Countryside Agency last year.

The study found that practically all of Exmoor had an above average level of poverty, and the West as a whole had higher levels of deprivation that any other rural area.

A further report commissioned by Somerset County Council came to the same conclusions.

West Somerset was found to have some of the lowest weekly wages in the South West, with the Somerset average of £359 being almost £50 less than the English average of £403.

House prices were also found to be rising while wages were falling, meaning up to 37 per cent of families could not afford to buy their own homes.

The report concluded that a "significant" number of people in the county were living in poverty.

The Government calculates poverty as people who earn less than half the average wage, or less than £200 a week - more than ten per cent of all Somerset employees.

Two electoral wards in Taunton Deane - Halcon and Lyngford - have also been singled out by the Government to be included in the list of wards where stamp duty will be abolished.

Lord Falconer said the announcement showed the Government was committed to "improving the social, economic and physical conditions of the most disadvantaged communities".