A LABOUR councillor lambasted a public health report for ignoring the big problems of health inequality and poverty in Wirral.

The annual report looked at how arts and culture can improve health and wellbeing, but Cllr Yvonne Nolan said this ignored the "massive health inequality" in Wirral.

Cllr Nolan said: "I am surprised this [arts and culture] is the issue on which you focus the annual report.

"There is massive health inequality in Wirral, we have a difference of 12 years in life expectancy across different parts of Wirral.

"There are huge issues of poverty and people living in poor housing. Those are the issues I would want to see in a public health annual report.

"I want to know how we address those things through public health.

"So I am disappointed that we don’t have the really significant issues that impact massively on people's lives [in the report]."

Julie Webster, Wirral Council’s acting director for health and wellbeing, presented the report to the council’s health scrutiny committee and said she was proud of it.

Ms Webster noted the health and wellbeing projects it focused on had reached thousands of people across Wirral this year.

One such project, the 'travelling sofa', saw people sit down to discuss their health and wellbeing and get involved in creative activities.

Ms Webster said it was amazing to see how people engaged with the project.

She added the report sets out an evidence-based argument that arts and culture help people improve their health and wellbeing.

While councillors acknowledged the importance of this less traditional approach, many spoke passionately about the brutal poverty and ill-health in their wards, a problem which has got worse during almost a decade of austerity.

Independent councillor Moira McLaughlin, said she did not want to accuse the report of being "pink and fluffy", but was nonetheless frustrated that it did not include figures on fuel poverty or overall poverty, which Wirral performs badly in.

In Birkenhead, one in three children grow up in poverty.

In Wallasey, the problem is only marginally less severe.

Labour councillor Tony Norbury said future public health reports must come up with answers to solving poverty in Wirral, as well as producing figures on the scale of the problem.

Cllr Phil Gilchrist, leader of the Lib Dem group in Wirral Council, said Wirral should look at reports commissioned by Blackpool's local authority which focus on issues such as heart disease, strokes, obesity, alcohol related harm, homelessness and the impact of housing quality on health.

He made a plea for councillors and public health officials to sit down with the data and work out where resources should be focused.

Ms Webster said she would come to the next health committee meeting with a different report, focusing on the concerns expressed by councillors.