HEALTHIEST PLACE IN ENGLAND
Government survey puts borough on top
WOKINGHAM is the healthiest place to live in England according to a new survey of the country’s local authorities.
The Office of National Statistics (ONS) Health Index Data measured the health of the nation in a holistic way for the first time and the borough tops the table for healthy residents, lives and places.
England’s health index is 99.7 – but Wokingham is 110.1.
Leader of the borough council, Cllr John Halsall, said the score was great news for Wokingham.
Cllr Halsall said: “It’s not surprising though as I’ve known for years what a wonderful place to live Wokingham borough is and we work hard to ensure our residents have access to facilities and services to maximise their emotional and physical health and wellbeing, such as good housing and schools, state-of-the-art sports and leisure facilities, lots of open green spaces and access to nature, vibrant towns and villages and great transport connections to the rest of the country,” he said.
“This index is based on data that is now a few years old. It doesn’t take into account the impact of the last year.
“Even through this year of the pandemic, we have been working very hard to ensure all our residents and businesses have the support they need to get through this.”
Some of the largest contributors to the gap in the health index are in depression (51.0 in Blackpool vs 95.2 in Wokingham) and avoidable deaths (71.1 vs 121.0). Substantial inequities exist across local authorities in children’s social and mental health (83.9 vs 118.5) alongside smoking (85.4 vs 130.7).
The south east average score is 102.5, with London at 101.0.
The baseline is a score of 100, and was set using 2015 data. The scores in this new chart were based on 2018, the latest year for which data is available, it has been compiled using ONS data in partnership with Lane Clark Peacock (LCP).
LCP says that in that time, there were overall improvements to overall wellbeing and mortality, but they were cancelled out by worsening mental and physical health morbidity.
While Wokingham scores highly in healthy lives – coming in at 117.1 – and healthy people (111.5), it only scores 101.5 for the healthy places category.
Certain sections of this are below the 100 score.
They include air pollution (88.7), transport noise (93.1), road traffic volume (99), access to services such as GP surgeries, pharmacies and sports and leisure facilities (96.7).
Housing affordability comes in at 87.6, while access to housing scores 100.8.
Cllr David Hare, Liberal Democrat lead for wellbeing, said: “Wokingham is a place for healthy residents due to our relative affluence and semirural nature.
“These factors mean we generally eat healthy food, many of us exercise, recently outside, we have good housing in the borough, meaning we have little overcrowding, most people in Wokingham have a good education all important aspects of Public Health.
“It is a less healthy to live place due to the general pollution, excess, often stationary, traffic, the underpayment and consequent pressures on GPs along with the lack of some facilities that help our health.”
Cllr Hare suggested more facilities to exercise, better control of traffic and more GP surgeries could all help boost this.
“To facilitate these factors, the Liberal Democrats would encourage – after covid – public transport and people cycling or walking, reducing the use of the car. Much of this is a personal choice: how you use your car, how you heat your house, impacting on the health and wellbeing of the whole population.”
Cllr Andy Croy, Labour leader for Wokingham, said the ranking hides “huge disparities” across the borough.
“The story in The Sunday Times is illustrated with a photo of the Thames at Wargrave. The Thames forms part of my ward boundary, Bulmershe and Whitegates, and my ward has among the highest levels of child poverty in the borough,” he said.
“Meanwhile we have seen demand at both the borough's food banks rocket – this has shown the income insecurity of many families.
“Hundreds of children struggled with homeschooling due to lack of access to the right electronic equipment.”
He added: “While residents of Wokingham Town have a brand new town centre costing over £100 million, residents of Woodley are fobbed off with some loose change from the Highways budget and a wall to sit on.
“The investment the council makes needs to be spread more fairly.”
He added that wealth was one of the areas that scored highly – but this is in areas where “the council has no control”.
“In areas where the Conservative council has the ability to change things are the area where we are perform poorly,” he said. “This Conservative council is dragging us down. We could be so much better with a council committed to a more sustainable model of living."
Dr Jonathan Pearson-Stuttard, head of LCP’s Health Analytics team, said: “The numbers reveal clear and substantial differences across England and should be a wakeup call to the Government to deliver on its manifesto pledge to level up regional inequalities.
“While there is some encouragement to be had from slight improvements in measures related to wellbeing and mortality, these have been cancelled out by worsening mental and physical health morbidity. These may have deteriorated further as a result of Covid-19.
“Being able to identify the components that account for the variations in the index over time and across populations, by geography and deprivation, provides the opportunity to take a data-driven approach to investing in communities and build back better in 2021.”
To see the index, visit healthindex.lcp.uk.com/map