FREE contraception is set to be made available to teenagers in a Hyndburn town in a bid to reduce to the number of teenage pregnancies.

At the centre of a new campaign to reduce Hyndburn's higher-than-average pregnancy rate is a new drop-in sex clinic in Rishton which will offer advice, health information and contraception to worried teenagers.

The plan, unveiled by the Communicare NHS Trust's family planning senior nurse Syliva Cullen, has been welcomed by local councillors, who said the youngsters who feared they were pregnant had suffered in silence in the past because of the town's 'village gossip-like mentality.'

New figures published show that 71 of every 1,000 girls aged 15-17 in Hyndburn become pregnant.

The average for East Lancashire during the same period, between 1997-99, was 55.8 per 1,000 while the national average is just 45.6 per thousand. The figures for Hyndburn are a marked rise on the previous three years, from 1994-96, when 56.6 per 1,000 became pregnant.

Nigel Robinson, from the Community Health Council, said: "Advice has only become readily available for many teenagers recently and the fact they haven't had that information is possibly a reason why the rates around here have been higher."

School nurses will receive training on using computerised dolls which are programmed to behave like real babies.

Mrs Cullen said: "The new facility in Rishton will provide youngsters in the town with similar facilities to those available in Accrington and Blackburn but which may have previously been out of reach to youngsters in Rishton.

Coun Anne Scaife, a Rishton councillor, said: "This is very good news for youngsters in Rishton.

"They need somewhere which offers confidential advice and support.

"At the moment, many youngsters are terrified of seeking help because they fear word might spread."

The Step In clinic in Rishton will be held on Mondays between 3pm and 5pm at the Rishton Clinic, High Street.