A NEW health centre is being built for residents on the neglected Hall i'th' Wood estate.

At a cost of £9 million, the Crompton Way centre will have doctors, a pharmacy and stop smoking facilities. It will be able to conduct minor surgery and house health visitors and district nurses, and will have room for expansion.

It is about time the area had modern up-to-date health facilities like this, considering it has been found to be one of the most unhealthy places in the country to live.

This new centre will definitely help improve the health of the neighbourhood, where 65 per cent of residents smoke and fewer than a quarter take any kind of exercise.

The centre will work best, though, if some residents in Hall i'th' Wood take more responsibility for their own lives, and concentrate on improving their health by quitting smoking, eating healthily and taking more exercise.

A good example of someone who has done this is overweight father-of-two Gary Baines, who weighed 45 stones before he set off on a 600 mile walk from Plymouth to Edinburgh.

Mr Baines, who lives in Horwich, decided to undertake the walk after his doctor told him he could have only two years to live unless he changed his lifestyle.

The walk, which will be featured in a Channel 4 documentary, has enabled Mr Baines to shed more than three stones in weight, and as a result he says he feels much fitter.

That said, places like Hall i'th' Wood have been severely neglected over the years, and people need to be encouraged to take action. We hope the new centre will help to turn around the health of the area.