GREEN councillors met with the Rent Service last week to discuss problems local people in receipt of housing benefit are having finding suitable accommodation. Many people have been experiencing difficulties finding privately rented accommodation at rents acceptable to the Rent Service.

County Councillor Jonathon Sear said: "It was a very useful meeting. The lowest and highest rents charged on the open market in the area are the key to the level of the rent acceptable to the service. We have asked them to check some of their data after they suggested that it was possible to rent three rooms in a shared house for as little as £45 per week. That doesn't fit with our experience of the rental market in Lancaster.

We also argued that Lancaster and Morecambe should be treated as separate 'localities'. Rents are clearly lower in Morecambe and it is not in anyone's interests to limit housing benefit recipients throughout the district to areas like Poulton and the West End.

"There is also a need for joined up housing and transport policy - people should be able to live close to their jobs, schools, friends and families"