A mum pushes her baby girl through Farnworth town centre. “I have to keep walking otherwise she’ll wake up,” she says as she gently rocks the pram from side to side.
The shopping precinct is busy but the tot doesn’t stir. Sleeping soundly beneath the safety of her blanket, she’s happy and healthy.
But her hometown has an unsettling secret. Babies born in the Moses Gate area of Farnworth are expected to live to just 75-years-old on average – meaning it has one of the lowest life expectancy rates in the country.
“We’re in 2023,” the mum tells the Manchester Evening News. “You don’t expect that, do you? I know it’s not an affluent area by any means but that’s madness.”
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The shocking data, released by campaigners Health Equals, found that babies born in the Bolton postcode have the lowest life expectancy in Greater Manchester, alongside Oldham town centre.
The research also found that northern and Scottish cities have far lower life expectancy rates than affluent parts of the south.
“I think it’s going to be a mix of things, surely,” the 31-year-old mum, who did not wish to give her name, added. “It’s not an area with a lot of money. There are green spaces if you can find them – but there is a lot of traffic. I live in a terraced house and it has damp but they’re old houses.”
When the M.E.N visited Moses Gate, the heavy traffic was noticeable. “I’m a bit shocked to be fair,” Nick Baynham says as he walks his dog through the suburb. The 25-year-old has a one-year-old son at home.
“I expected people to live longer than that, to about 90 or something. That’s bad. But it’s people not having the best path in life, especially around here.”
Nationally, the largest life expectancy gap in the UK is 18 years.
Babies born in Blackpool town centre can expect to live to 73 years old on average. That’s compared to South Kensington in London where the average life expectancy is 91 years of age.
Young mum-of-two Sophie Williams, 24, described the research as “scary” - citing the amount of traffic in Moses Gate as a possible reason for the statistic.
“There’s a lot of traffic,” she said. “It’s awful. There’s a lot of crashes. It’s quite a confusing area to drive in. [The data] is shocking, it’s really bad. It’s scary.”
The low life expectancy in Farnworth has been linked to the level of deprivation in the area. But it hasn’t always been that way, according to resident Alan Worthington.
“There needs to be more for the kids to do,” the 76-year-old said. “I had three grandsons and they sit at home.
“I’ve been here for 50 years. It’s gone downhill fast. [The town centre] was pretty good, now there’s too many hairdressers and fast-food shops. It’s poor.”
Leah Warburton, 26, also believes there needs to be more for children to do in the area. “People leave their cars in stupid places, there’s not that many parks or green spaces and there’s not a lot for kids to do,” the mum-of-two said.
“There was a kids play centre over the back but that’s been closed for a while. If I had the money, I’d buy it.”
Bolton GP Helen Wall says there are many factors that make up a low life expectancy rate. "We have long since known that life expectancy is inextricably linked to deprivation with a direct correlation between lower life expectancy and those born in the areas with the highest levels of deprivation,” she told the M.E.N.
"As well as our genetics, good health and living longer is impacted by many other factors.
"We know that having a lifestyle that includes behaviours such smoking, substance misuse, excess alcohol use and a diet high in salt and fat, as well as poor access to and use of health care all contribute to lower life expectancy.
"We do often see these factors in higher numbers in areas of higher deprivation. However, there are other well known factors that also impact on life expectancy.
"The wider socio-economic determinants of health such as income, education, housing quality and employment (type and availability) all affect our life expectancy.
"Unfortunately deprivation, and in particular the gaps in life expectancy, have been worsened of late by the impact of the Covid pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis.
"As health and social care leaders and professionals we have a responsibility to ensure that we design and facilitate our health and social care services to ensure no one gets left behind and we significantly reduce our health inequalities."
A spokesperson for Bolton Council said: "Addressing health inequalities is the top priority for our public health team and for our partners in the borough.
"Our Public Health Annual Reports and Joint Strategic Needs Assessments provide a picture of the health inequalities in Bolton and the factors behind them.
"Bolton’s 2030 Vision, which brings our anchor institutions together to address key priorities, sets out an evidence-based strategy to address the social factors influencing health.
"This includes looking at the conditions in which people are born, grow up, live, work and age. In a wider context, Greater Manchester is a Marmot City Region, working with renowned expert Professor Marmot and his team from University College London to address health inequalities."
Carrie Hume, head of Health Equals, which carried out the research, said: "Our members are diverse but carry the same message. The size of the UK’s life expectancy gap is entirely preventable, but not enough attention is paid to how our health is shaped by our interactions with the world around us.
"We're calling on politicians to take action, doing more to understand what shapes our health, and creating plans to improve our opportunities for good health."
John Godfrey, director of Levelling Up, Legal and General added: "Life expectancy has stalled for the first time in 100 years — while for some areas of the UK, life expectancy is reversing.
"The UK is one of the wealthiest countries in the world and yet people are spending more time in poor health. It’s harming society, our economy and leading to lives needlessly cut short across the UK."
Yasmin Qureshi, MP for Bolton South East, which covers Farnworth, added: “Moses Gate having the lowest life expectancy in Greater Manchester points to a wider link between health outcomes and indices of multiple deprivation. It is for Governments to prioritise targeted support to areas like Moses Gate and Farnworth and try to improve outcomes for those who live there, whether that be health, education, or employment.
“Yet after thirteen years of Conservative rule the safety net has been pulled with cuts to SureStart, EMA, and welfare payments. We’ve seen local authority budgets decimated and outreach programmes cut, whilst the NHS faces winter crisis after winter crisis due to chronic underfunding.
“In the most recent budget, the Chancellor gave a handout to the 1% whilst the most vulnerable in society are on the frontline facing a cost of living crisis like never before. If we want to address health outcomes in Moses Gate, and improve life expectancy, we need a Government that supports good jobs, invests in left behind areas, and provides support where it is most needed.”
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