Carlisle is the most northerly city in England, and the ... - NHS Cumbria

Introduction.Carlisle is the most northerly city in England, and the only city in Cumbria. It is situated less thanten miles from the Scottish border. Carlisle has the smallest population of any English city but isthe largest in land area.The urbanised areas of the City Council include, as well as the city of Carlisle, the towns ofBrampton and Longtown. The remaining area is rural in nature.Road transport links to the city include the M6 to the South, The A74 to the North, The A69 tothe East and the A595 to the West.Rail links are supplied by the West Coast main railway line with smaller lines serving furtherroutes.The city is situated at the confluence of three rivers – the Eden, Petteril and Caldew. Followingsevere gales and heavy rain in the winter of 2005 the city was subject to severe flooding.Following this a Task Group – Carlisle Renaissance - was established to ensure the economic,physical and social regeneration of the city in the aftermath of the floods.Carlisle City Council is in the lowest one fifth of local authorities in England for four of five givenhealth and deprivation indicators. Local authorities identified as such are designated SpearheadLocal Authorities, linked to the appropriate Primary Care Trust and have targets to see fasterprogress compared to the average towards reducing inequalities in the health of the localpopulation.1. Population.The City Council covers 15% of the area of Cumbria and has 21% of the total Cumbrianpopulation with 100,739 inhabitants. Of these 71,773 live within the boundaries of the city. Thisis around 71% of the population.Carlisle’s proportion of residents over the age of 65 is 19%, similar to that of the rest of England.However the population of older people is predicted to rise considerably in the future, withpopulation projections of 29.4% in this age group by 2014 and 39.4% by 2029, compared to18% and 22% respectively for the rest of England and Wales. This means that Carlisle will havea much higher proportion of older residents than the average for the rest of the country.The proportion of younger adults in the 20 – 39 age group is lower than the average for Englandat 25% compared to 27%.Figure 1 shows the population structure of Carlisle by age band compared to the rest ofEngland and Wales.Fiona Huntington 4 of 47