CAMPAIGNERS say losing £1.3million from the health budget does not take into account the aging population.

Enfield Council has been forced to knock £436,000 from the public health budget.

This is because the amount of money it gets from central Government will decrease, and by 2021 it will lose £1.3m.

But campaigners say the population increase over the last 15 years, as well as the cost of looking after more elderly people with disabilities, have been “ignored”.

There are increased pressures on the demand for social services by both adults and children.

Meanwhile, helping overweight people across all ages costs the borough £84million a year.

Glenn Stewart, Enfield’s assistant director of Public Health, said: “We will be working to make these cuts as efficiently as possible.

“But at a time of increasing concern at the pressure facing health and social care services, this may be seen as a false economy.”

Life expectancy at birth for men in the borough is 80.1, and 84.2 for women. At older ages, 65-year-old men are expected to live around 19 years, while women 22 years.

Mr Stewart added: “Increasing life-expectancy is obviously good news, but nobody wants to live their later years in discomfort or pain.

“The call to arms is to improve lifestyles so people can live as fully as possible. Unfortunately this may be made more difficult as cuts are made to the public health budget.”

Meanwhile, a campaign to tackle the way Enfield is given less cash than other boroughs has been launched by the Over 50s Forum.

Enfield Council gets £496.10 per head in government cash, while Westminster gets £917.59, and Hammersmith and Fulham receives £900.

There is also a disparity in NHS grants – this year Enfield gets £362m for a population of 320,000, but Camden gets £372m for 260,000, and Islington £339m for 233,000.

Public Health in Enfield is currently given £40 per head, while Kensington and Chelsea gets £130 per head, Hammersmith and Fulham £110, £80 for Lambeth and £65 for Haringey.

And Enfield Public Health says it is increasingly lacking weapons to do their job to tackle areas such as smoking, alcohol, obesity and drug abuse.

To support the cross-party Fairer Funding for Enfield petition please go online to www.change.org/p/enfield-borough-over-50s-fairer-funding-for-enfield or you can sign at most libraries