Scouts march back into Britain's inner cities as membership soars

Exclusive: Movement creates 1,280 new groups to boost numbers in deprived areas

Cubs and scouts are marching back into inner cities and have formed 1,280 new packs, troops and colonies in the most deprived parts of Britain over the past five years.

The 112-year-old Scout movement has boosted membership in some of the UK's poorest areas by 20,000 since 2014, according to figures published on Wednesday. New sections have opened on estates such as Byker in Newcastle and Wythenshawe in south Manchester but also in non-urban areas of deprivation such as Jaywick, an Essex seaside town named among the poorest in Britain.