EXPERTS at the Consumer Data Research Centre (CDRC) have analysed towns across Hampshire to expose the unhealthiest places in the County.

Specialists at CDRC investigated wellbeing by monitoring pollution levels in each Hampshire neighbourhood, as well as the amount of parks and recreational spaces.

The availability of health services, such as GP surgeries and pharmacies, and the number of takeaways, pubs and gambling shops was also taken into account.

An interactive map has now been created to display the findings.

How does the map work?

The map tracks a CDRC's health index - also known as Access to Healthy Assets and Hazards (AHAH).

It takes into consideration:

  • Retail environment (access to fast food outlets, pubs, off-licences, tobacconists, gambling outlets)
  • Health services (access to GPs, hospitals, pharmacies, dentists, leisure services)
  • Physical environment (Blue Space, Green Space - Active, Green Space - Passive)
  • Air quality (Nitrogen Dioxide, Particulate Matter 10, Sulphur Dioxide).

Each of these factors is tracked and provides an overall AHAH score for that area.

The lower the school the healthier the area is, it appears blue on the map.

The higher scores are represented with red and indicates the town is less healthy than its blue counterparts.

Areas are also ranked one to 10 healthiest areas are given a rank of one while the unhealthiest regions are classed as a 10.

Andover Advertiser: Map KeyMap Key

If you want to check out your area in more detail you can view the whole map by clicking here.

This is how healthy each area of Hampshire is:

Basingstoke

Andover Advertiser:

Basingstoke has a mixture colours on the map but the town has more blue and green areas than red indicating it is mostly healthy.

The northern parts of town are displaying blue, with areas such Chineham and Popley singled out as some of the healthiest places to live in the UK.

The lack of pubs and fastfood places contribute to these good scores.

On the other side of the scale are Viables and Kempshott which have been scored a 9 making them the unhealthiest places in Basingstoke.

The whole of Basingstoke shows up in various shades of red when analysing air pollution meaning the town has poor quality air.

Southampton

Andover Advertiser:

Southampton is extremely unhealthy and has been given a score of 10, making it one of the worst performing areas in the whole UK.

The city is almost all shown as red on the map

Areas such as Freemantle and Shirley and Totton are particularly bad.

They are home to high numbers of, pubs, and off licences and takeaways.

The air quality across Southampton is as bad as in London in many places, the whole of the map ranks air quaility between 6-10.

Winchester

Andover Advertiser:

The map of Winchester shows a primarily blue area with pockets of yellow indicating the town in mostly healthy.

Springvale is by far the unhealthiest part of town with Harestock and Littleton coming in at joint second.

Stanmore and Oliver’s Battery are among the healthiest places in the UK ranking a score of one overall.

Whilst Winchesters air quality is still moderately high they secure the healthy low scores by having access to many health services.

Andover

Andover Advertiser:

The town shows a mixture of blue, yellow and red on the map indicating that some areas are far healthier than others.

With a score ranging between one and two Andover Central ranks the healthiest in the town with Burghclere Down and Weyhill ranked the unhealthiest.

East Anton was neither particularly healthy nor unhealthy showing up as yellow on the map with a score of five.

Romsey

Andover Advertiser:

The West of Romsey has been ranked healthier than the East.

Cupernham took the top spot for the healthiest area whilst Whitenap and Crampmoor ranked the unhealthiest.

Portsmouth

Andover Advertiser:

Portsmouth also ranks badly on the health scale.

Large parts of Portsmouth have been ranked with a 10 making them some of the unhealthiest places in the country.

The area is filled with pubs, takeaways and places to buy cigarettes and lacks green space.

The city does however seem to have good access to health services.