MIDDLEWICH men outlive their Winsford neighbours – some by an average of almost three years – although women in CW7 tend to live longer than those down the A54.

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.

While Middlewich ranks relatively low among east Cheshire wards, with male life expectancy of 78.5 years, it tops all three Winsford wards.

Meanwhile, Winsford women are expected to live around five years longer than the men in the town.

Figures for Middlewich, in east Cheshire, stand at 78.5 for men and 81.3 for women, compared to 78.3 and 83 for Winsford Over and Verdin, 76.2 and 81.5 for Winsford Swanlow and Dene, and 75.9 and 80.2 for Winsford Wharton.

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.

Men and women are expected to live up to 15 years longer in rural west Cheshire than in the centre of Crewe. Men in the railway town’s central ward has the lowest life expectancy at just 72.6.

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.”

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 West and Chester Council ward (ward/men/women)

Blacon 76 79.9

Boughton 81.1 85.4

Chester City 75.5 76.1

Chester Villages 80.1 83.7

Davenham and Moulton 79.9 82.8

Dodleston and Huntington 84 90.1

Ellesmere Port Town 72.6 80

Elton 77.9 79.6

Farndon 84 91.2

Frodsham 80.3 84.2

Garden Quarter 76.8 85

Gowy 81.6 87.7

Grange 74.5 76.2

Great Boughton 81.6 87.7

Handbridge Park 82.3 86.2

Hartford and Greenbank 83.2 88.5

Helsby 81.5 85

Hoole 77.1 79.1

Kingsley 83.6 84.7

Lache 79.7 83.4

Ledsham and Manor 82.1 86

Little Neston and Burton 80.7 83.3

Malpas 80 83.5

Marbury 80.6 86.3

Neston 76.2 82.3

Netherpool 75.1 80.8

Newton 81.4 86

Parkgate 83.2 88.8

Rossmore 72.9 77.4

Saughall and Mollington 82.7 83.9

Shakerley 76.9 79.1

St Paul’s 78.6 82.8

Strawberry 81.1 87.7

Sutton 79.2 82.7

Tarporley 82.3 84.7

Tarvin and Kelsall 80.7 85

Tattenhall 83.7 84.4

Upton 78.7 82.4

Weaver and Cuddington 80.3 83

Whitby 79.8 83.1

Willaston and Thornton 83 85.8

Winnington and Castle 75.3 80.8

Winsford Over and Verdin 78.3 83

Winsford Swanlow and Dene 76.2 81.5

Winsford Wharton 75.9 80.2

Witton and Rudheath 78.6 82.8

Life expectancy by Cheshire East Council ward (ward/men/women)

Alderley Edge 82.6 83.8

Alsager 81.3 85.3

Audlem 81.1 80.3

Bollington 81.6 84.1

Brereton Rural 84 86.2

Bunbury 81.8 84.1

Broken Cross and Upton 79.8 82.2

Chelford 83.4 86.7

Congleton East 80.1 81.8

Congleton West 77.9 83.7

Crewe Central 72.6 76.8

Crewe East 77.1 80.8

Crewe North 77.9 82.7

Crewe South 78.6 80.2

Crewe St Barnabas 74.9 78.1

Crewe West 77 81.1

Dane Valley 82.7 87.5

Disley 82.3 85.5

Gawsworth 83.7 87.9

Handforth 79.1 82.9

Haslington 80.8 81

High Legh 79.9 83.2

Knutsford 83.1 86.4

Leighton 81.2 79.7

Macclesfield Central 77.9 82.4

Macclesfield East 80.9 85.4

Macclesfield Hurdsfield 76.3 84.3

Macclesfield South 77.5 81.2

Macclesfield Tytherington 81.5 84.5

Macclesfield West and Ivy 80.9 86

Middlewich 78.5 81.3

Mobberley 79.1 79.8

Nantwich North and West 78.9 82.7

Nantwich South and Stapeley 80.4 84.6

Odd Rode 82.4 83.2

Poynton East and Pott Shrigley 81.4 84.2

Poynton West and Adlington 82 84.2

Prestbury 81.8 88.6

Sandbach Elworth 78 83.5

Sandbach Ettiley Heath and Wheelock 80.3 86.3

Sandbach Heath and East 79 84.8

Sandbach Town 81.3 84.3

Shavington 79.4 85.6

Sutton 80.8 84.5

Willaston and Rope 82.2 86.5

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

Wistaston 80.3 85.2

Wrenbury 82.8 85.1

Wyburnbury 84.4 86.2