State of the Borough narrative

373,951 people lived in Cheshire West according to the mid-2025 population estimates, with a quarter living in rural areas. 16.6% of residents are 0-15 years old; 22% are over 65; and 61.4% are between 16 and 64 years old. This is an older population than the England average.

The population is forecast to increase by 8% between 2023 and 2033, with the greatest increase expected in those aged 65 or over.

According to the 2021 Census around 8.8% of local residents were from Black and Minority Ethnic backgrounds, an increase on the 5.5% reported in 2011 but far lower than the 26.5% England average. Polish remains by far the most frequently spoken non-English language.

The COVID-19 pandemic began to impact on the UK from the start of 2020, with a national lockdown declared at the end of March. Due to the differences in the time taken to collate and report the various data within the State of the Borough, the impact of the pandemic shows differently in different data sets. The Department for Education continues to advise caution in how educational attainment is compared over this period.

The borough's 'infant mortality rate' is similar to the national average but the percentage of ‘low birthweight term babies’ is better than the national average. The percentage of mothers in the borough known to be smokers at the time of delivery has fallen and is better than national averages at 3.6% compared to 4.2%. The proportion of local children who are obese is similar to the national average both at reception age (10.4% compared to 10.7%) and at year 6 (22.0% compared to 22.8%).

Hospital admissions caused by unintentional or deliberate injuries are higher (worse) in the borough than the England average for 0-14 year olds but have reduced to become better than the England average for our borough's 15-24 year olds. Hospital admissions for mental health conditions in people under 18s has fluctuated but is now similar to the national average. Self-harm in those aged 10-24 years remains above the national average but has fallen significantly following a sharp increase in 2021/22 the reasons for which are not clear. Mental health and self-harm admissions are both more prevalent for females, locally and nationally. Under 18s hospital admissions for both alcohol-specific conditions and admissions for substance misuse in 15-24 year olds is similar to the national average.

The rate of children in need increased between 2020 and 2024, but reduced to 315 per 10,000 population in 2025, below the England average of 330 per 10,000 population. The rate of children and young people on a child protection plan is similar to the England average. A higher rate of children and young people are living in care than elsewhere in the country.

Overall absence from school increased significantly in 2022, both locally and nationally. It reduced slightly in 2023 and has now further reduced to 6.9% locally and 6.8% nationally. Both figures however are well above historic levels. The local absence rate is slightly lower than the England average for special schools and primary age, but higher at secondary (9.2% in comparison to 8.4%).

The percentage of children achieving a good level of development in the early years foundation stage declined to 66.5% in 2024, but increased to 67.7% in 2025 and 72.1% in 2026, slightly lower than the national average of 72.3%. The percentage of children achieving a good level of development in the KS2 stage declined between 2019 and 2022, both nationally and locally, but both rates have now increased to 62% locally and 63.% nationally. GCSE attainment 8 scores increased in 2020 and 2021 but declined across 2022 to 2025, and despite increasing to 45.3 in 2026 remain lower than the national average of 46.2.

The percentage of pupils with an education, health and care plan has increased both locally and nationally over the last few years, but the rate of increase is higher in Cheshire West and Chester, increasing 3.8 percentage points between academic year ending 2020 and 2026 compared to 2.7 percentage points for England across the same period.

The number of people starting further education fell from over 35,000 in 2017 to a low of 17,181 in 2021. Figures have been growing since, reaching 22,195 by 2025.

Whilst Cheshire West is an affluent borough the overall picture masks stark gaps between areas of prosperity and deprivation. The median local household income is £39,200 per year compared to £40,100 nationally. Both locally and nationally, 18% of households have an annual income of less than £23,800. Some 29,512 local people live in neighbourhoods ranked in the most deprived 10% in England. Around 15% (9,524) of children (aged under 16) in Cheshire West and Chester were living in low income families (before housing costs) in 2024/25. This increases to around 20% (12,731) after housing costs are taken into account. 8.7% of Cheshire West and Chester households live in fuel poverty.

More recent information shows that visits to foodbanks have fallen from a high of 24,083 in 2023 to 16,899 in 2025. The percentage of local pupils known to be eligible for free school meals continues to increase steadily, reaching 20.3% in 2026 whilst model based unemployment is at 3.6% against an England average of 4.6%.

Average attainment 8 scores at GCSE show that the attainment of both disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged pupils improved both locally. and nationally in 2025/26. Overall local attainment is 45.3, remaining slightly below the England average of 46.2, and the attainment of disadvantaged pupils is 31.1 compared 35.6 nationally. The percentage of disadvantaged pupils in the borough achieving a good level of development in KS2 increased to 45.0% in 2025/26, but remains below the national average of 48.0%.

The borough’s inequality in life expectancy at birth has increased to a high of 11.1 years for men but reduced to 7.6 years for women.

Life expectancy in the borough remains at 83.7 years for women (similar to the national average of 83.5) and has increased to 80.0 years for men (similar to the national average of 79.7%). Preventable mortality in those aged under 75 years is significantly better than the England average. Healthy life expectancy rates across the borough's male and female populations have been declining but remain similar to England. Around 21,284 local people over 65 live alone.

66.9% of local adults are reportedly overweight in comparison to 64.6% nationally. Local people are in line with England for most other healthy behaviours, except admission episodes for alcohol related conditions and '5-a-day' fruit and vegetables consumption, which are better than the national average. Fall related hospital admission rates for older people in Cheshire West and Chester are worse than the England average.

The percentage of local people who report a high level of anxiety (25.4%), and a low happiness score (13%) are both increasing faster than nationally but remain similar to the national average. 7.5% of our borough's adults report feeling lonely often or always, similar to the national rate of 7.0%. The borough's rate of hospital admissions for intentional self-harm is worse than the national average at 138.5 per 100,000 compared to 117.0.

The largest business sectors in Cheshire West in terms of the number of businesses remain professional, scientific and technical (which has increased to 2,725 from 2,660 at last report), construction (which has increased to 1560 from 1520 at last report) and business admin and support (which has remained at 1,210). The sectors with the highest number of employees are health (which increased from 20,000 in 2023 to 21,000 in 2024), professional, scientific & technical (which increased from 18,000 to 19,000) and Business administration and support services (which increased from 15,000 to 18,000).

The most recent 2024 figures show a slight increase in business births (from 1,435 to 1,450) and a further decrease in business deaths (from 1,405 to 1,315). The percentage of local businesses that survive two years locally has increased slightly (from 68.9% to 71.5%) and is above North West and England percentages. The growth in Gross Value Added (GVA) in the borough increased to 2.34% in 2023-2024, lower than the North West average of 4.57% and the UK average of 4.17%.

The local employment rate, which is collected by survey, fell to a low of 68.9% in 2023 but has since increased to 81.4%, better than both the England (75.8%) and the North West (74.3%). Model-based unemployment remains well below the national average, as do unemployment benefit claimant rates. Around a third of local people continue to work part-time. Whilst 36,704 people commute out of the borough for work (with Cheshire East the most popular destination), 37,364 commute into the borough (with Wirral the most popular source).

The number of visitors to the borough has generally been increasing but has not yet returned to pre-pandemic levels. After falling from 37.4million (2019) to 20.1m (2020), it is now at 29.8million (2025) slightly lower than the 2024 number of 30.6million. The number of staying visitors has recovered to 1.7million but day visitor numbers are 7.7million lower than in 2019. Visitor economic impact has followed a similar trajectory and in 2025 stood at £2.53billion. Chester Zoo remains by far the most popular visitor attraction in the borough with 1.95million visitors in 2024 according to VisitBritain. 

88% of Cheshire West and Chester premises have full fibre broadband availability compared to 81% for the UK. 1% of premises across both the borough and the UK are unable to receive at least 10Mbit/s broadband.

The numbers of people killed or seriously injured on Cheshire West and Chester’s roads remains lower than the national average. In comparison to the previous year, at June 2026 the number of recorded crimes has increased by 1% locally and decreased by -1% nationally.

The proportion of Cheshire West and Cheshire residents satisfied with the borough's highways is below the National Highways and Transport (NHT) survey average. Satisfaction is declining both locally and nationally.

Of the 167,820 homes and dwellings in Cheshire West, 30.3% are rented, 31.2% are owned with a mortgage or loan and 37.1% are owned outright. 46,889 local people live alone. Median house prices decreased slightly to £257,750 in Sept 2025. In 2025 median house price is 6.93 times local annual earnings, against an England average of 7.63.

Engagement with libraries which fell in 2020, has almost returned to pre-pandemic levels. Library visits have increased from 453,507 in 2020/21 to 1.69m in 2025/26. Engagement with archives grew to 2.4million during 2020 as their online offer was extended, and is now at 4.1million, well above pre-pandemic levels, due to the online release of several million images from the archives via a new commercial partner, Ancestry. Visits to Brio leisure facilities have fallen since recovering to pre-pandemic levels, impacted by ongoing refurbishment works.

Per capita carbon emissions for the borough in 2024 is 6.28 kco2. Whilst showing a 48.64% reduction since 2014, local emissions remain above the national average. The largest proportion of local emissions has been attributable to industry use which is where the most significant part of reductions have been made. Across England as a whole, the greater part of emissions is accounted for by transport and household emissions.

Over 188,000 trees were planted or regenerated in the borough across 2025/26, taking the total number of trees planted or regenerated since 2008/09 to over 490,000.

71.6% of domestic properties in Cheshire West and Chester had an energy performance certificate (EPC) band C or above in 2025, compared to 63.7% for England. 57.6% of the borough's household waste was sent for reuse, recycling or composting in 2024/25, higher than the England average of 42.0%.

83% of local households own at least one car or van. The vehicle miles travelled per 100,000 people are significantly higher in Cheshire West and Chester than nationally. The impact of the pandemic and national lockdowns saw both local and national figures fall dramatically and whilst figures have increased each year since, the 701 miles travelled by local people in 2025 remains lower than it has been over the previous decade. The number of low emission vehicles owned locally increased significantly to 13,845 per 100,000 in Q4 2025, higher than the national rate of 4,189 per 100,000 population.