NORTH high streets are among the most unhealthy in the country– with too many businesses like betting shops, fast food outlets and off-licences which could shorten the lives of locals– according to a new report.

Research by the Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) found residents of towns with lots of bookies and off-licences die younger than those with plenty of libraries and pharmacies.

Its ranking of 70 high streets found those living in the top ten healthy areas, which included Harrogate and York, lived an average of two-and-a-half years longer than those in the ten towns with the unhealthiest high streets, including Sunderland which was the fifth worst.

Darlington was ranked the 16th most unhealthy town centre.

The Health on the High Street: Running on Empty report used a scale which awarded points for pubs and bars, dentists, opticians, libraries, leisure centres, museums and galleries, pharmacies, coffee shops and vape shops.

Points were deducted for betting shops, payday lenders, fast food outlets, off licences, tanning salons and empty shops.

Grimsby was named the unhealthiest town, followed by Walsall and Blackpool while Edinburgh, Canterbury and Taunton were the top three.

The list was first published in 2015 and was updated this year to reflect the changing face of the British high street.

It added off-licences and the growing number of empty shops to the list of negative features, while cafes and vape shops were considered positive influences.

The research found that 4,000 new fast food outlets had opened across the UK in the past five years– predominantly in poorer areas.

The number of empty shops on the high street has increased from below 7 per cent in 2007 to 11 per cent in 2017.

The findings come in the wake of the autumn budget, in which the Chancellor announced measures aimed at helping high street shops struggling to online rivalry.

Shirley Cramer, chief executive of the RSPH, said: "While the face of the British high street continues to change, the environmental and economic factors that influence inequalities in health outcomes across the country remain stubbornly intractable.

"Our Health on the High Street rankings illustrate how unhealthy businesses concentrate in areas which already experience higher levels of deprivation, obesity and lower life expectancy.

"Reshaping these high streets to be more health-promoting could serve as a tool to help redress this imbalance."

She welcomed the budget steps but said they do not go far enough and said local authorities are too cash-strapped to reshape high streets to promote positive businesses.