ALMOST a third of households in Pendle are without central heating, putting the area near the bottom of the comfortable home league.

Pendle ranks 66th worst out of 563 Parliamentary constituencies in an assessment about heating compiled by MP Gordon Prentice.

He discovered that 33.5 per cent of households in Pendle do not have central heating compared with the average in England and Wales of 18.5 per cent.

The figures were compiled in the wake of the furore over the initial refusal of Pendle Council to use cash from the controversial sale of the buses to install central heating in council homes. The decision has now been reversed.

Mr Prentice said: "It is not as if we live in the balmy tropics. We live in a part of the country where cold and damp weather is commonplace.

"The high cost of energy and the large number of homes with inadequate heating systems means that inability to pay for enough heat and light is a real problem for many hard working families.

"And it is estimated that lower income households spend a greater proportion of their income on energy: as much as ten per cent each week as against four per cent for middle income households."

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