AN MP is calling for an end to a postcode lottery which sees parts of her constituency being amongst the most expensive to insure in the country.

Home insurance in the OL13 area - which covers Bacup, Stacksteads, Weir, Britannia and Sharneyford - is the 15th most expensive in the country.

Cost-wise Rossendale is only beaten by 14 locations in the capital - making it more expensive than Anfield in Liverpool, Ballysillan in Belfast and Bradford in West Yorkshire, three other areas near the top of the expense poll.

And the figures are even more startling because home insurance is more than £100 cheaper just a few miles away in the BB4 area.

The cheapest average quote for a Bacup address is £283.58 a year, while the average price for home insurance in Rossendale Valley's BB4 area is just £169.33.

Rossendale MP Janet Anderson has written to the Royal Mail to calling for the expansion of the BB4 postcode, which covers most of the rest of Rossendale, so that Bacup residents are no longer penalised.

She said: "I am hoping the Royal Mail will give consideration to my request and do something to change this.

"It is unacceptable that people are forecd to pay over the odds for insurance because of the postcode they have been allocated."

Richard Mason, director of insurance at moneysupermarket.com, who conducted the survey said: "There are many reasons for these differences in price, such as crime rates, the affluence of areas, flood risk and the likelihood of being affected by subsidence.

"There are no hard and fast rules though, so an affluent area which is relatively free from crime may still suffer from high premiums.

"I would call on insurers to assess premiums on a case by case basis, rather than blacklisting cities or areas as high-risk'.

"Insurers weight these factors differently, so anyone who finds their insurance premiums too high should look for insurers who will assess their premiums on an individual basis.

"Consumers would do well to shop around every year instead of renewing with the same insurer as this will probably save them a great deal of money."