MORE THAN 1,000 people have died needlessly in Huddersfield because of poverty, a health chief said today.

Dr Sohail Bhatti, Huddersfield's director of public health, says 235 people - three of them infants - die in the town every year because they don't have the same health opportunities as those in more affluent areas.

And he likened the 1,000 death toll in five years to the equivalent of two jumbo jets crashing on the town.

Dr Bhatti's comments were made at a top-level health conference in Manchester. And they come after his annual health report this year highlighted shocking inequalities in health across the town.

The report found that heart attack victims in the poorest parts of Huddersfield - including neighbourhoods around Leeds Road, Bradford Road and Crosland Moor - were three times more likely to die than those in more affluent parts.

The report also showed that while the number of people admitted to hospital with heart attacks was 38% higher in deprived areas than in affluent areas, the difference in death rate was a shocking 317%.

Dr Bhatti said: "The death rates are appalling.

"If two jumbo jets crashed in Huddersfield every five years there would be a scandal, but these numbers are the same.

"I would call on Kirklees Council and all the partners involved to ensure the health inequality agenda is made a top priority."

He said inequalities in housing, environment, food and health needed to be looked at.

He added: "We also need to stop behaviour, such as smoking, that we know can lead to an increased risk of death.

"This is all linked to a higher rate of death in more deprived areas."

He said progress was being made to promote healthy living across Huddersfield, adding: "We need to look at the preventative factors."