WOMEN in Wilmslow East are expected to live up to ten years longer than women in Wilmslow Lacey Green.

Recent figures released by the Office of National Statistics have highlighted a serious inequality in life expectancy across the boroughs of Cheshire East.

Women in the Wilmslow East ward have an average life expectancy of 90.3, whereas the women in Lacey Green’s average is 80.8.

For men in Wilmslow East, the average life expectancy is 84.3, while the average for men in Lacey Green is 78.5, the lowest out of all the Wilmslow wards.

Residents of the Farndon ward, nine miles south of Chester on the Welsh Border, enjoy the highest life expectancy in the county – 84 for men and 91.2 for women.

But the men in Crewe Central and Ellesmere Port Town wards have the lowest life expectancy at just 72.6, while women in Crewe Central have the county’s lowest life expectancy of 76.8.

Cllr Dorothy Flude is the Labour Cheshire East Council member for Crewe South, which has a life expectancy of 78.6 for men and 80.2 for women.

She believes the town still has a legacy from heavy industrial work, and believes more investment needs to be made to improve residents’ wellbeing.

Cllr Flude said: “In Crewe there was a lot of heavy industry. We still have the legacy of that with asbestosis and chest conditions.

“But that should be working its way out as people get older. We need to see that come down by more investment into health and social care, the council and the education system in our more deprived parts of Cheshire East.”

Other figures show that men in Cheshire East can expect to live longest in Wynburnbury, while Leighton, near Crewe, is the only ward in the two boroughs where men are expected to outlive women – with a life expectancy of 81.2 compared to 79.7.

CEC leader Cllr Rachel Bailey believes that both education and the proposed Crewe HS2 hub, which received backing from the Department for Transport last month, can help to close the inequality gap in her borough.

“We have six main outcomes and one of those is improving the wellbeing of our residents,” she said.

“If we can educate people to live more healthily, if we can give information in relation to smoking cessation and control of alcohol, working with health, working with partners in education, that’s the key factor.

“And with regard to the case for a hub station in Crewe, an area that we’ve had to evidence is that social improvement. It’s about raising the aspiration of an area, and it’s a tactic that’s been applied for generations, but it’s improving that opportunity that brings improved wellbeing.”

Life expectancy figures for local wards, men followed by women:

Alderley Edge 82.6 - 83.8

Mobberley 79.1 - 79.8

Wilmslow Dean Row 81.4 - 82.7

Wilmslow East 84.3 - 90.3

Wilmslow Lacey Green 78.5 - 80.8

Wilmslow West and Chorley 82.3 - 87.4