A PROJECT has been launched to stem the tide of schoolgirl mothers after it was revealed East Lancashire had among the highest teenage pregnancy rates Europe.

Girls in Hyndburn, Burnley and Pendle are also more likely to have abortions than anywhere else in the county -- with as many as eight under 16s per thousand having terminations.

Now Lancashire County Council has been given £360,000 to help co-ordinate advice, support and contraception services in Lancashire to make sure youngsters know where to get help when they need it.

The move, using information gained from interviews with young mothers, has been welcomed by MPs and sex counsellors said they needed to get the message across to youngsters that they do not need to have sex.

Blackburn with Darwen Council is drawing up its own strategy to deal with teenage pregnancies.

Lancashire as a whole has a higher number of teenage mums than the national average, itself the worst in Europe. All three local boroughs have been listed as being 'hotspots' for the the new multi-agency Lancashire Teenage Pregnancy Action Team to target, along with Preston.

But unlike Preston, they also have high termination rates,

In Rossendale, the average teenage pregnancies in 1999 for under 18s was 45.7. The worst areas for teenage pregnancies are also the most deprived, and the ones where pupils are most likely to be excluded from school.

The new strategy will have several aims:

Ensuring that young people know where to access good quality information, advice and support.

Providing better education, because research has revealed many youngsters having sex for the first time can be ignorant of the consequences. Research shows that sex education helps to delay rather bring forward young people starting to have sex.

Better Services and Better Support for Teenage Parents: strategy aims to adopt the government's guidance on best practice on the provision of contraceptive and advice services for young people.

The £360,000 has been given by the Government to start the project.

Some of the cash will be used to promote existing services in East Lancashire so that youngsters are more aware of the support available.

County council leader Hazel Harding said: "We have worked with teenage parents to find out what they think and this is the result.

"We want to work with people so they have high expectations. Some mothers said being a mother meant that they were doing something they were good at for the first time in their lives."

As well as advice, parenting services will be developed that will help teenage parents back into education, training and employment.

The work follows the government's social exclusion unit report on teenage pregnancy, published in June 1999, which stated Britain had the highest incidence of teenage pregnancy in Europe.

A spokesman for the Brook Group, which runs pregnancy and family planning clinics in East Lancashire, said: "Youngsters need to know that not everyone is having sex, they don't need to have sex and with the right education, they should be able to make up their own minds.

"But they also need to know what help is available to them and know that there are people who will listen to them in confidence.

"There are many factors which contribute to the pregnancy figures including deprivation. That often leaves youngsters with little to do."

Hyndburn MP Greg Pope said: "I am very concerned about this problem.

"East Lancashire and Hyndburn have some of the worst rates in the UK and, in fact, Europe.

"I am all in favour of anything that can be done to persuade young people to be responsible, delay sexual activity, and prevent abortions and pregnancies, both of which can have disastrous consequences."

Rossendale and Darwen MP Janet Anderson said: "It is absolutely vital to tackle the problem of teenage pregnancies.

"Young girls should be told about the consequences of becoming pregnant too young,

"Motherhood is a wonderful thing but it should be undertaken at the appropriate time."