HYNDBURN Council has been named as one of the top 10 local authorities in the UK for dealing with the most pest call outs per person in the country.

A British Pest Control Association (BPCA) survey showed Hyndburn came ninth in the country, received 1,627 call outs last year, averaging 20.15 per 1,000 people living in the borough.

Pendle Council, was 14th on the list, responded to 1,621 call outs, around 18.12 per 1,000 people.

The data came from a study carried out by the BPCA analysing the demand for council pest control services.

Blackburn with Darwen Council was 77th on the list, dealing with an average of 10.2 calls per 1,000 people.

Ribble Valley was the lowest in East Lancashire, at 178th, with an average of 5.78 call outs per 1,000 people.

A BPCA spokesman said Rossendale Council refused to respond to a Freedom of Information Act request and hand over the figures.

Miles Parkinson, leader of Hyndburn Council, said: “We offer free call outs to certain pests and this can obviously mean people are more likely to call us than use an outside company.

“Other council’s might charge for their calls and people might be inclined to use other companies if it costs less or costs more.

“It shows we are willing to deal with every call we get in the best, professional manner.”

Pendle Council was also the seventh highest in the UK for rat problem call outs.

Philip Mousdale, Pendle Council’s corporate director, said: “The higher figure doesn’t reflect that we have a problem with rats, it highlights that we’ve taken steps to increase coverage to ensure we meet the needs of our residents and businesses.”

Dee Ward-Thompson, for BPCA, said: “Local authorities have been under immense pressure to produce savings over the last five years and pest control seems to have been one of the services to have taken a big hit."