MEN and women are expected to live up to 15 years longer in rural Cheshire than in the centre of Crewe.

Recent figures released by the Office of National Statistics have highlighted an alarming inequality in life expectancy across the boroughs of Cheshire East and Cheshire West and Chester.

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

But men in the 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 women in Wilmslow East are expected to live 10 years longer than those in the Wilmslow Lacey Green ward, while men in Cheshire East can expect to live longest in Wynburnbury.

Meanwhile, 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 by Cheshire East Council ward

Alderley Edge - 82.6 (men), 83.8 (women)

Alsager - 81.3 (men), 85.3 (women)

Audlem - 81.1 (men), 80.3 (women)

Bollington - 81.6 (men), 84.1 (women)

Brereton Rural - 84 (men), 86.2 (women)

Bunbury - 81.8 (men), 84.1 (women)

Broken Cross and Upton - 79.8 (men), 82.2 (women)

Chelford - 83.4 (men), 86.7 (women)

Congleton East - 80.1 (men), 81.8 (women)

Congleton West - 77.9 (men), 83.7 (women)

Crewe Central - 72.6 (men), 76.8 (women)

Crewe East - 77.1 (men), 80.8 (women)

Crewe North - 77.9 (men), 82.7 (women)

Crewe South - 78.6 (men), 80.2 (women)

Crewe St Barnabas - 74.9 (men), 78.1 (women)

Crewe West - 77 (men), 81.1 (women)

Dane Valley - 82.7 (men), 87.5 (women)

Disley - 82.3 (men), 85.5 (women)

Gawsworth - 83.7 (men), 87.9 (women)

Handforth - 79.1 (men), 82.9 (women)

Haslington - 80.8 (men), 81 (women)

High Legh - 79.9 (men), 83.2 (women)

Knutsford - 83.1 (men), 86.4 (women)

Leighton - 81.2 (men), 79.7 (women)

Macclesfield Central - 77.9 (men), 82.4 (women)

Macclesfield East - 80.9 (men), 85.4 (women)

Macclesfield Hurdsfield - 76.3 (men), 84.3 (women)

Macclesfield South - 77.5 (men), 81.2 (women)

Macclesfield Tytherington - 81.5 (men), 84.5 (women)

Macclesfield West and Ivy - 80.9 (men), 86 (women)

Middlewich - 78.5 (men), 81.3 (women)

Mobberley - 79.1 (men), 79.8 (women)

Nantwich North and West - 78.9 (men), 82.7 (women)

Nantwich South and Stapeley - 80.4 (men), 84.6 (women)

Odd Rode - 82.4 (men), 83.2 (women)

Poynton East and Pott Shrigley - 81.4 (men), 84.2 (women)

Poynton West and Adlington - 82 (men), 84.2 (women)

Prestbury - 81.8 (men), 88.6 (women)

Sandbach Elworth - 78 (men), 83.5 (women)

Sandbach Ettiley Heath and Wheelock - 80.3 (men), 86.3 (women)

Sandbach Heath and East - 79 (men), 84.8 (women)

Sandbach Town - 81.3 (men), 84.3 (women)

Shavington - 79.4 (men), 85.6 (women)

Sutton - 80.8 (men), 84.5 (women)

Willaston and Rope - 82.2 (men), 86.5 (women)

Wilmslow Dean Row - 81.4 (men), 82.7 (women)

Wilmslow East - 84.3 (men), 90.3 (women)

Wilmslow Lacey Green - 78.5 (men), 80.8 (women)

Wilmslow West and Chorley - 82.3 (men), 87.4 (women)

Wistaston - 80.3 (men), 85.2 (women)

Wrenbury - 82.8 (men), 85.1 (women)

Wyburnbury - 84.4 (men), 86.2 (women)

Life expectancy by Cheshire West and Chester Council ward

Blacon - 76 (men), 79.9 (women)

Boughton - 81.1 (men), 85.4 (women)

Chester City - 75.5 (men), 76.1 (women)

Chester Villages - 80.1 (men), 83.7 (women)

Davenham and Moulton - 79.9 (men), 82.8 (women)

Dodleston and Huntington - 84 (men), 90.1 (women)

Ellesmere Port Town - 72.6 (men), 80 (women)

Elton - 77.9 (men), 79.6 (women)

Farndon - 84 (men), 91.2 (women)

Frodsham - 80.3 (men), 84.2 (women)

Garden Quarter - 76.8 (men), 85 (women)

Gowy - 81.6 (men), 87.7 (women)

Grange - 74.5 (men), 76.2 (women)

Great Boughton - 81.6 (men), 87.7 (women)

Handbridge Park - 82.3 (men), 86.2 (women)

Hartford and Greenbank - 83.2 (men), 88.5 (women)

Helsby - 81.5 (men), 85 (women)

Hoole - 77.1 (men), 79.1 (women)

Kingsley - 83.6 (men), 84.7 (women)

Lache - 79.7 (men), 83.4 (women)

Ledsham and Manor - 82.1 (men), 86 (women)

Little Neston and Burton - 80.7 (men), 83.3 (women)

Malpas - 80 (men), 83.5 (women)

Marbury - 80.6 (men), 86.3 (women)

Neston - 76.2 (men), 82.3 (women)

Netherpool - 75.1 (men), 80.8 (women)

Newton - 81.4 (men), 86 (women)

Parkgate - 83.2 (men), 88.8 (women)

Rossmore - 72.9 (men), 77.4 (women)

Saughall and Mollington - 82.7 (men), 83.9 (women)

Shakerley - 76.9 (men), 79.1 (women)

St Paul’s - 78.6 (men), 82.8 (women)

Strawberry - 81.1 (men), 87.7 (women)

Sutton - 79.2 (men), 82.7 (women)

Tarporley - 82.3 (men), 84.7 (women)

Tarvin and Kelsall - 80.7 (men), 85 (women)

Tattenhall - 83.7 (men), 84.4 (women)

Upton - 78.7 (men), 82.4 (women)

Weaver and Cuddington - 80.3 (men), 83 (women)

Whitby - 79.8 (men), 83.1 (women)

Willaston and Thornton - 83 (men), 85.8 (women)

Winnington and Castle - 75.3 (men), 80.8 (women)

Winsford Over and Verdin - 78.3 (men), 83 (women)

Winsford Swanlow and Dene - 76.2 (men), 81.5 (women)

Winsford Wharton - 75.9 (men), 80.2 (women)

Witton and Rudheath - 78.6 (men), 82.8 (women)