ELLESMERE Port and Neston is slightly above the national average for a range of alcohol-related health problems.

But the borough is either on or below the average when it comes to crimes linked to booze.

The situation is revealed in Local Alcohol Profiles for England produced by the Centre for Public Health at Liverpool John Moores University, and the North West Public Health Observatory.

Covering all 354 local authorities in England, the study looks at eight different measures relating to health, crime, mortality and binge drinking.

Ellesmere Port & Neston was slightly above the national averages when it came to alcohol-related months of life lost for both males and females and alcohol-related and alcohol-specific hospital admissions for both sexes.

The area was below the average for deaths from chronic liver dis-ease in both sexes.

It was right on the average for recorded crimes due to alcohol and slightly above average for violent offences linked to booze.

The area was below the average for alcohol-related sexual offences.

The one area where Ellesmere Port & Neston was noticeably above the national average was binge drinking - adults who consume double the daily recommended levels of alcohol in a single drinking session of eight or more units for men and six or more for women.

Professor Mark A Bellis, director of the Centre for Public Health, said: 'These profiles graphically illustrate the growing costs of cheap alcohol, a night-time economy almost exclusively packed with bars and clubs, and a failure to deliver a credible drinking message to both youths and adults.

'Health agencies, police and schools all have major roles to play in reducing the damage caused by alcohol but so do the alcohol industry, employers and the general public.'

Professor John Ashton, North West regional director of public health said: 'Fears of being accused of being part of the nanny state have intimidated governments from tackling head on the manufacturers of cheap alcohol in the same way that they would if this was any other kind of drug.

'We can stand by and reap the toll of mental and physical wreckage or decide as a society that enough is enough and so solicit a willingness to roll back the tide of alcohol that is washing over us.'