ONE of the region's most affluent areas has been named as the worst place for "hazardous drinking" in the country.

As figures were published that showed that an area of North Yorkshire has the joint worst record in England when it comes to consistent heavy drinking, health bosses pledged to take action.

The figures, released by the North West Public Health Observatory at Liverpool John Moores University, showed people in affluent areas of the country are more likely to be drinking at levels considered hazardous to health - between 22 to 50 units a week for men and 15 to 35 for women.

Harrogate topped the league table, along with Runnymede, which includes the Surrey towns of Chertsey and Virginia Water, with more than one in four drinking at hazardous levels (26.4 per cent). The lowest percentage of hazardous drinkers was found in relatively deprived Newham, in east London, at 14.1 per cent.

Two other North-East areas made it into an unenviable top ten.

Middlesbrough was fourth in a table of places with the highest levels of male alcohol-attributable hospital admissions (1,538 per 100,000) with Newcastle finishing ninth (1,443 per 100,000).

Middlesbrough finished third in the table showing areas with the highest level of alcohol-related hospital admissions for women, with a rate of 844 per 100,000.

Dr Peter Brambleby, director of public health for North Yorkshire and York Primary Care Trust, said health problems caused by alcohol had "moved right up the agenda" alongside child obesity and smoking.

"It is now overtaking drugs in terms of priority," he said.

As part of the strategy being drawn up by the PCT, the emphasis would be to persuade people to cut back on alcohol and to offer a greater degree of support and treatment to those who needed help, he added.

Andrew Harrison, of Harrogate Alcohol and Drugs Agency, said: "In a more affluent area like Harrogate, people who are working hard at well-paid jobs are going home and thinking nothing of having wine to relax after work."

He said that more people were drinking at home than five years ago and this was boosted by the smoking ban in pubs.