Public Health Annual Reports

2025/26 Public Health Annual Report
A place to call home: how housing shapes health in Wirral

This years report...

2025/26 Public Health Annual Report
A place to call home: how housing shapes health in Wirral

Good health is not just about not being ill. It’s about feeling safe, having stability, and being able to live well every day; physically, socially, and emotionally. Where we live is a huge part of our overall health and wellbeing. A healthy home is warm, dry, and safe. It gives us space to rest, eat and spend time with others. It is also about having communities that support us with safe streets, green spaces, local services, and a sense of belonging.

Not everyone in Wirral has access to these conditions. Rising housing costs mean that some young people, families on low  incomes, older people and some minority communities, struggle to afford to live in the areas they want to. Poor housing also brings costs to our health system, our environment and wider society.

Wirral as a place is undergoing change. The regeneration that is happening across the borough gives us an important opportunity to create healthier places to live. In Birkenhead for example, the town centre and waterfront are being redeveloped with new homes, green spaces, and walking and cycling routes that make it easier to get around. There is also major investment in Seacombe, Woodside and new housing in areas such as Moreton, Bromborough, and Liscard.

The projects taking place across Wirral are closely linked to the Wirral Plan 2023-2027, which aims to create a borough that is fair, prosperous and sustainable for everyone. The Birkenhead 2040 framework also sets out a long-term vision for the future of Birkenhead and nearby areas, ensuring that new developments support thriving, connected and healthy communities. 

Both plans support the goals of our Wirral Health and Wellbeing Strategy, which highlights the importance of good quality housing, strong communities and fair access to opportunities for all residents. Together, these strategies give us a unique chance to ensure that health is built into regeneration from the ground up.  Energy efficiency can help people to heat their homes and to reduce carbon emissions, safer streets and better transport links can help people to stay active and connected, and green and blue spaces can  support mental wellbeing, providing places for people to relax and feel connected.

This report looks at how housing affects health in Wirral today and into the future. It explores how the homes we live in shape our wellbeing and how the neighbourhoods we build next can help create a fairer, healthier and a more sustainable Wirral for everyone.

Dave Bradburn
Director of Public Health, Wirral

Next steps...

As you can see in the report, the content explores the relationship between housing and health, highlighting the key local challenges, and celebrates the work already happening across the borough to create safer, warmer, and healthier homes for our residents. 

The PHAR was presented to Adult Health and Social Care Committee on 3rd March 2026 and was very well received. 

Following this, Public Health and Partners will begin developing a system-wide action plan to support the implementation of the recommendations across partners.

This will include agreeing shared priorities, identifying where collective action is needed, and designing a clear set of deliverables and measures to track progress.

 

Further information

Previous Public Health Annual Reports
Wirral Health Inequalities Annual Report 2009-10

These reports summarise the progress made against the Wirral Health Inequalities Action Plan on an annual basis. Wirral Health Inequalities Annual Report 2009-10