PEOPLE living in parts of Andover may be at much greater risk of developing cancer than more affluent country areas a leading expert on public health has suggested.

Dr Simon Tanner, the director of public health in North and Mid Hampshire, told members of the Community Health Council that 3,000 people in this area will be diagnosed with cancer each year and 1,200 will die.

Although rates compare favourably with the country in general, there are hot-spots for both cancer and coronary heart disease with higher than expected mortality rates.

Dr Tanner told the CHC it was suspected there were a high number of cigarette smokers in Basingstoke, but it was very difficult to obtain local figures for smoking.

He said there was a theory that perhaps it was because Basingstoke was a new town and perhaps a relatively deprived generation moved from London.

When asked by county councillor David Kirk about wards in Andover Dr Tanner said there were two wards comparable to wards in Basingstoke although they didn't have the same rates of cancer.

He said there had been some interesting work carried out on relatively deprived people living near affluent people.

They tended to suffer as a result.

He said a child born in affluent Surrey was likely to live six years longer than a child born in parts of northern England. The most important factor was cigarette smoking which was the major contributory factor for lung and other cancers.

Among men lung cancer was the most common cancer but now more women were also contracting the disease locally which reflects the increased incidence of smoking among young women.

This year there are as many women with lung cancer as breast cancer.