The healthy life expectancy is below retirement age in some of the most deprived neighbourhoods in Cambridgeshire, a report published by the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority has said. 

A report looking at the state of the county’s economy highlighted the health differences between people living in the Greater Cambridge area and those living in Peterborough and the Fenland district. 

The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Mayor, Dr Nik Johnson, questioned what the point of a growing economy was when there were “worsening inequalities”. 

At a meeting of the Combined Authority business board meeting on September 4, members heard that the county’s economy was believed to now be back to pre-covid levels. 

However, it was highlighted that there was still a divide between the north and the south, with the mayor raising how health inequality impacted this. 

Patrick White, the managing director of Metro Dynamics, presented the report on the state of the economy to the board. 

He explained that the latest data from the Office for National Statistics suggested the Cambridgeshire economy had “effectively recovered to pre-covid levels”. 

However, he said at the same time there was still “uncertainty” around the number of jobs and the variation of job growth in the region. 

The report said South Cambridgeshire had seen “rapid jobs growth”, with Cambridge and the Fenland district seeing just about the national average. 

However, it said East Cambridgeshire had seen a “rapid decline” in jobs over the five years up to 2021. 

Mr White said it was important the Combined Authority continued to make sure it was focusing on supporting the creation of jobs in the region. 

He added there was “encouraging news” around the productivity in the region, but said there was again variation, with Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire being “more productive” than the national average, but said the historic gap was widening in Peterborough and Fenland. 

Mr White said there were “low value sectors in terms of wages and skills plus a low value housing market” in the Fenland area and said the business board needed to think about what role the district could play in the regional economy. 

Mr White said it was “interesting” that Fenland and Peterborough had seen an increase in the number of businesses being created and said this suggested there was “active entrepreneurialism take up again after covid and Brexit”. 

He said the board needed to continue to look at the barriers to growth, highlighting the need for commercial space, particularly lab space in the Greater Cambridge area. 

The mayor, Dr Nik Johnson, said for him the “real concerns” in the report were the health statistics included at the end of the report around life expectancy and child poverty. 

The report said: “Life expectancy is higher in Greater Cambridge and relatively low in Greater Peterborough and the Fens, where healthy life expectancy is below retirement age in the most deprived neighbourhoods; plus relatively high proportions of child poverty in Greater Peterborough and the Fens.” 

The report showed that Fenland and Peterborough were the only two districts in the county where life expectancy at birth was below the national average for both men and women. 

These two areas were also higher than the national average for the number of children living in relative low income families, with Peterborough having the highest proportion at 25 per cent. 

South Cambridgeshire had the lowest proportion of children living in relative low income families with 7.7 per cent. 

Dr Johnson said: “I think many of the questions and possibly some of the answers to why our poorer performance, particularly in the areas that we talk about and the levels of inequality, can actually be put down to health and that is both physical and mental health and wellbeing of the population.” 

He said he hoped the business board would work with the Combined Authority and collaborate with the Integrated Care Board to deal with some of the issues around public health. 

Dr Johnson said challenging health inequality would help to solve some of the problems relating to business performance. 

He said: “What is the point of a growing economy if we are getting worsening inequalities and a population that is becoming unhealthier.”