NEW figures reveal the rates of children living in poverty across Blackburn with Darwen.

Council bosses say there is help out there for families living in the worst-hit areas.

Earlier this month research by Loughborough University found that 69.6 per cent of children in Blackburn's Bastwell ward were said to be living below the breadline.

And nearby Audley and Queen's Park's rate was barely better, on 68.8 per cent. This compares to just 17.8 per cent in parts of rural Darwen and 19.6 per cent in Livesey with Pleasington.

Cllr Shaukat Hussain, who represents Bastley, believes the loss of the Sure Start in Bangor Street, triggered by government austerity measures, is one factor.

He added: "I'm surprised that we are the right at the bottom but we didn't start off from a good point.

"We are one of the most deprived areas locally and the amount of cutbacks has affected us.

Programmes run by the former Sure Start centre had helped parents to "put their priorities in place", he added.

"Though we may be one of the poorest, we are the most hospitable though, as people can find out during Eid," he said.

Cllr Yusuf Jan-Virmani is a school governor at St Thomas CE Primary and can see the impact of child poverty first-hand.

He said: "We have children coming into school who have not had any breakfast at home and that affects them."

Support is forthcoming from a number of community centres across the ward, he told the Telegraph, but the borough council was faced with a number of challenges when it came to delivering services, given the financial pressures they operate under.

"There are number of Sure Start programmes still going in Audley and Queen's Park but some of them are winding down," he said.

Cllr Jan-Virmani said the council was working with their partners in the health service, in a number of areas, in a bid to reverse the trend.

Several other areas in the borough are said to have child poverty rates above 50 per cent, such as Shear Brow, on 60.3 per cent, Little Harwood, on 58.1 per cent, and Wensley Fold, Queen's Park, Corporation Park and Shadsworth ranging from 54 to 57.4 per cent.

The remaining wards fared as follows percentage-wise: Sudell (45.7), Beardwood with Lammack (44.7), Marsh House (33.1), Roe Lee (42.6), Ewood (40.2), North Turton with Tockholes (17.8), Meadowhead (45.5), Mill Hill (46.3), Sunnyhurst (42.6), Fernhurst (22.9), Whitehall (29), Highercroft (47.4)