GP: FINDINGS HIGHLIGHT NEED
FOR INVESTMENT IN SERVICES
RESEARCH has revealed the unhealthiest areas to live in around Nottingham.
Gregory Street in Lenton was listed as one of the unhealthiest places to live according to a new interactive map.
The study ranks areas on a number of criteria, including access to fast food restaurants, pubs, and health services, as well as air quality, leisure facilities and gambling outlets.
A section of Derby Road, which includes Gregory Street and Saxon Green, were deemed very unhealthy by researchers - but residents living in the area had mixed responses to the study.
Zareen Rehman, who has lived off Gregory Street for 45 years, said: “It used to be very well taken care of and clean around here.
“The streets are dirty, there’s rubbish and dog mess too. When you compare it to Turkey or America, you can see your face in the roads there.
“It isn’t well taken care of here. It used to be heavenly. I can’t believe how it has changed.”
Ms Rehman, who is retired, added that she thinks students contribute to the statistics in the interactive map.
She said: “The students need to be educated around this issue. They rent houses around here and when they leave it’s like a pigsty.”
Rohit Kumar, a fourth-year Medicine student at the University of Nottingham, said: “This is a busy area on the main bus route so I am not that surprised by the study.
“It’s nice having the recreation ground here, everyone sits outside in summer.
“The crime is more of a concern for me, when there has been an incident and you see flowers outside on the street.”
One woman living in Gregory Street, who did not wish to be named, said: “I am surprised by that, I did not know it was one of the unhealthiest places to live.
“There aren’t any takeaways on this road. But it is very busy so I know the air pollution would be higher than usual.
“I don’t think it’s enough to make me move away from the area.”
The data was put together by The Consumer Data Research Centre, which involves researchers from the University of Leeds, University College London, University of Liverpool and the University of Oxford.
Other areas which were flagged up as being ‘unhealthy’ included Sneinton, which was ranked in the worst-performing 10 percent when it came to health.
Nearby Canal Street and Collin Street were also ranked amongst the unhealthiest places to live. Colwick and St Ann’s both ranked in the top 40 percent nationally, along with Sherwood Rise and Old Basford.
Bilbrough, Radford and Hockley also had streets labelled as very unhealthy. Dr Irfan Malik, senior partner at Elmswood Surgery in Sherwood, said: “There’s always an inequality of care between inner-city and rural areas, that’s one of the reasons we need to invest and resource health services in city areas.
“Canal Street and Collin Street have a lot of homeless people and places for deprived patients who might have a mental illness.
“We need to have excellent services for our inner-city GPS to manage this deprivation and keep them going.”
He added that Sherwood has a “large mix” of residents including families on lower incomes. Dr Malik said: “In Lenton, there are a lot of students in a transient population. Fast food takeaways in areas like Sneinton and Lenton is not a good market for health either.”
We need to have excellent services for our inner-city GPS to manage this deprivation. Dr Irfan Malik