THE number of people aged 85 and over in West Oxfordshire will have almost trebled by 2031.

Health chiefs say the ageing population represents one of the biggest funding pressures for the county because older people place a bigger demand on services.

A new forecast predicting how the numbers of people aged 85 and over will rise in each of Oxfordshire’s districts shows the West Oxfordshire district will see the biggest growth in the elderly over the next 20 years.

Oxford, however, will see the smallest, with the number of people aged over 85 growing by just over 50 per cent.

At a meeting of Oxfordshire’s new Health and Wellbeing board, Jonathan McWilliam, the county’s health director, said the ageing population was a ‘potent’ challenge as many older people needed complex and expensive care.

By 2031 the number of people who are over 85 will have increased by 180 per cent in West Oxfordshire, by about 150 per cent in Cherwell and South Oxfordshire, 135 per cent in the Vale and about 50 per cent in Oxford City.

In his last report Dr McWilliam warned that demand for care for older people is predicted to exceed supply within the next 10 years as health chiefs struggle to cope with the cost of illnesses such as dementia.

But pensioners last night said they were ‘fed up’ with being made to feel guilty for living longer.

Veronica Seeney, 76, of Champion Way, Littlemore, said she thought it was a miracle today’s elderly were living as long as they did.

She said: “It’s a positive thing that people will be living longer. We had very different lives to what young people have now.

“A lot of us have lived through wars, when there was no money and have had tough lives.

“I’ve always worked and paid my full stamp, so I think I am entitled.”

Christine Burden, 65, from Meadow Lane, East Oxford, set up the Sweet Memories Senior Citizen’s Club in Percy Street, for lonely older people.

She said it was a positive thing that older people were living longer, but added: “At what cost though?

“I have got older people who come to the club who are in their 90s and there is nothing left for them.

“They don’t want to live this long. They’re the forgotten generation.”