CAMPAIGNERS claim hundreds of people in East Lancashire are dying because they cannot afford to heat their homes.

The area's MPs are being urged to support a bill to make homes more energy efficient - and therefore warmer in winter - reducing cases of flu and hypothermia.

Friends of the Earth, who are organising the Campaign for the Warm Homes Bill, say at least two thirds of more than 600 "excess" winter deaths in East Lancashire can be linked directly to cold homes.

Government statistics for winter 1998/99 show there were 604 extra deaths from December to March, compared to other times of the year.

Of those deaths, 107 were in Blackburn, 99 in Burnley, 102 in Rossendale and Darwen, 98 in Hyndburn, 106 in Ribble Valley and 92 in Pendle.

Friends of the Earth say the elderly and other vulnerable groups are most at risk, as they struggle to pay their fuel bills and cannot raise the capital to make their homes more energy efficient.

Campaign organiser Martyn Williams, of Friends of the Earth, said: "Cold homes kill. We know that a national programme to make homes more fuel efficient would save lives, ease the crisis in the NHS, and help the environment. Tory MP David Amess is to introduce the Warm Homes Bill, with a second reading on March 10, to create a national programme for installing energy efficiency measures, such as insulation and efficient heating systems.

Vicky Shepherd, information services manager for Age Concern Blackburn with Darwen, said Age Concern supported the bill.

"Many older people live in older houses which are in poorer condition, are not energy efficient and have inefficient heating," she said.

"This housing causes many problems such as ill health and hypothermia and even death in the winter months."

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