THE number of people on housing waiting lists in parts of East Lancashire has risen by 170 per cent since the Government came to power, new figures have revealed.

Today local Labour MPs expressed concern about the figures and said more money and work to tackle the problem of empty houses was needed.

Numbers in Hyndburn have risen by 170 per cent while the rise in Blackburn with Darwen is 167 per cent. But in Burnley there has been a 44 per cent drop.

Across the North West, the rise was 61 per cent, meaning 200,600 people hanging on in hope of getting a home from the local council or a social landlord.

Across England there are more than 1.5 million families waiting for a house -- an increase of 52 per cent since 1997.

Lib Dem spokeswoman Sarah Tether said: "These figures reveal the massive scale of the housing crisis.

"With house prices so high, home ownership is now just a dream for most people. More and more are turning to councils for help finding a home. But every year, there are fewer and rewer affordable homes.

"We need to build more homes for rent and tackle the scandal of nearly 700,000 homes standing empty."

Hyndburn Labour MP Greg Pope said: "I am very concerned. I shall be contacting the borough council and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister about them.

"I need to find out if there is a serious problem and if so what do about it." Burnley MP Kitty Ussher said: "I am glad that we are making real progress in Burnley. The challenge now is to tackle the problem of empty properties."

Hyndburn Council's portfolio holder for housing Coun Peter Clarke said: "We haven't done a review of our waiting list for some time, due to the pending stock transfer where Hyndburn Homes will have its own allocations policy and waiting lists.

"However, we plan to review it in the near future and there will be a number of applications which will be removed from the list.

"We've also made a big impact on reducing the number of empty council properties which has also led to increase in the waiting lists."

Nobody at Blackburn with Darwen Council was available for comment.

Other councils' figures were: Chorley 726 (1997) 1,770 (2005) up 144 per cent; Pendle (1997) 1,508 1,592 (2005) up six per cent; Rossendale 1,515 (1997) 2,737 (2005) up 81 per cent.