COUNCIL leaders have heard how residents of two "deprived" areas of Winchester are less healthy than the rest of the city's population.

At a Health and Environment Policy Committee, officers informed councillors that those who live in Winnall and Stanmore are less healthy than people in other areas.

"Deprivation" was the word frequently used in association with these two neighbourhoods.

Mike Newman, member of the public health team at Hampshire County Council, addressed city councillors about the situation in the city.

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Sunrise at Winnall (Image: Mark Ryan) Mr Newman pointed out that residents in the Winchester district are healthier than the UK average and the Hampshire average. However, the health of the average person in the city centre is worse than both averages, thanks to its so-called areas of deprivation.

He said: "Interestingly, Winchester city centre is also the area in the district where there is lower life expectancy for both males and females, reflecting some of those differences in terms of deprivation."

He added: "Overall Winchester is an affluent area with access to green spaces and low crime levels.

"There are, however, pockets of deprivation within Winchester city, namely Winnall and Stanmore, which experience higher rates of crime, higher food insecurity, fuel poverty and social isolation."

The committee's agenda, published before the meeting, had laid out the council's plan to "help reduce health inequalities between people and places".

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But Mr Newman stressed the difficulty of identifying the precise causes of ill health in any given community, along with the added complication of how to address them with a limited budget.

"How does one go about cutting that out?" he asked. "Is the process of going and looking at other councils and what they are doing and work if they are doing things that you are not which are succeeding, has that been [done] in any way?"

Key factors in the causation of health issues included physical activity, healthy weight and diet, well paid jobs with good incomes and the cost of living.