PENSIONERS are to be offered a choice of frozen, or cooked, meals following a county hall compromise.

Lancashire's senior citizens will now have the choice of either a two-course frozen meal for £2.20, or a freshly- cooked one for £3.20 per meal.

The measure, involving an increase in charges to pensioners, means Lancashire County Council can scrap its annual £1million subsidy for meals on wheels.

The move was announced by Coun Chris Cheethan yesterday, and follows an outcry when plans were revealed last month to give pensioners just weekly deliveries of frozen meals, rather than daily hot ones. Opposition councillors slammed the compromise saying it still targeted the county's most vulnerable residents.

Coun Cheethan, in charge of adult and community services, said: "We are to offer elderly people a choice of either frozen, or hot meals. The prices we will charge are an increase on last year, but what it does is eliminates the subsidy for meals on wheels.

"But the price is still less than the national average which is £3.30. I hope people are reassured they will not have a frozen meal foisted on them."

But opposition councillor Geoff Driver said the budget savings were irrelevant to old people.

He said: "To them it just means that the prices have gone up.

"Age Concern tell us it's not just about the meals, sometimes the person who delivers the meal is the only human being a pensioner might see that day."