Two miles equals eight years in life expectancy

A child born in Canterbury’s Northgate ward can expect to die eight years before one born two miles away in St Stephen’s.

Eye-opening figures lay bare the startling difference a postcode can make to how long a newborn can expect to live.

Average life expectancy across the district is 81, but in Northgate – which includes the Sturry Road estate – it drops to 76.

Two miles away in Stephen’s a child can expect to reach 84.

The Kent and Medway Public Health Observatory, which monitors lifestyle trends across the county, points to a worrying trend of higher than average smoking, drinking and unhealthy eating in Northgate.

Its report states that 30% of residents are obese compared with a city average of 14%, with more than 30% smokers.

More alcohol-related hospital admissions come from Northgate and Herne Bay’s Heron ward than any other in the district, and more than a quarter of residents regularly binge drink, says the report.

Cllr Alan Baldock, who represents Northgate, wants a rethink on social housing.

“For many families in wards such as Northgate those hopes and dreams are lost in despair and an overwhelming mission to survive,” he said.

“Their unpredictabl e incomes are battered by high rents in the private sector, way above any benefit support payment.

“To make it worse they live with the frustration that they have almost no chance of affordable social housing, staying trapped in their present circumstance.

“It’s no wonder that healthy lifestyle choices are often not the ones chosen as they face short-term choices in a day-today existence, often in fear of homelessness and debt.”

MP Rosie Duffield claims that a targeted approach must be adopted to bridge the gap.

She said: “We must work harder as a district and as a country to lessen these differences. Money and community focus should be targeted even further at those areas where we can act to narrow the difference.

“Sometimes it is not only the obvious factors, such as weight, blood pressure and smoking, that limit life expectancy, but hidden ones that begin in the community such as early life experience, access to educational attainment, transport systems and housing.”