SOME 13 per cent of the adult population in Lancaster and Morecambe are on income support, 15 per cent of children in Skerton live in homes with no working parents and some areas of the district have the highest rates of burglary in the county. These depressing statistics have been unearthed in a four-year county council survey which reveals disturbing increases in poverty and unemployment. Lancashire's Green Audit found serious cause for concern on jobs, crime, poverty, environment and quality of life.

Closer examination of the figures shows that in the city's three Skerton wards 15 per cent of children lived in homes with no working adults while in the rest of Lancaster it was fewer than five per cent.

Unemployment rates in Alexandra ward in Morecambe were 16 per cent with more than a third of people classed as long-term unemployed. Surprisingly, of the unemployed people in the rural ward of Warton, 35 per were long-term unemployed, one of the highest figures in the country.

Death rates in more than half Lancaster's city wards were above the national average, with the likelihood of an early death highest in Morecambe's Alexandra ward, and the same areas suffered most from burglary and violent crime.

Skerton's Cllr Charles Gratton said the figures made depressing reading and added: "It is very worrying especially as the trend is in the wrong direction. You get an idea of how bad things are when you see the number of children who get free school meals or need special educational support. John Major spoke of a classless society at ease with itself but for many people the times are hard and getting worse."

Not all the statistics were gloomy. Lancaster had the highest rate of recycling in the county though it also produced one of the highest amounts of waste.

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