Hundreds of people will die in North Yorkshire because they cannot afford to heat their homes, according to a report out today.

Friends of the Earth estimate that more than 300 people will die across the region this winter, basing their calculations on figures for the winter of 1995-96 from the Office of National Statistics.

The environmental pressure group is pinning the blame on "fuel poverty" and a lack of insulation, adding that some people just cannot afford to heat their property.

Campaigner Josie Downs, of Malton, said: "It is a national disgrace that over eight million homes will be freezing this winter with little or no insulation and expensive-to-run and wasteful heaters.

"In Ryedale, past experience suggests that there will be 337 excess winter deaths. This is the term the Government gives to additional deaths which occur in winter compared to the rest of the year.

"As well as the additional deaths, a huge amount of disease and illness is caused by cold homes - costing the NHS £1 billion every year. More money is wasted repairing mould and rot - often caused by cold and damp - which costs local authorities £1.3 billion a year to repair," Ms Downs said.

Friends of the Earth members in North Yorks are now urging MPs to back a Private Member's Bill to ease the crisis.

Last year, The Warm Homes and Conservation Bill - which outlined a plan to insulate 500,000 homes a year for the next 15 years - was put before parliament by Linda Gilroy, the Labour MP for Plymouth Sutton, but was defeated.

Ms Downs added: "The Warm Homes Bill would end this scandal and would save fuel, so cutting pollution and the emission of the greenhouse gases that lead to climate change."

Ryedale MP John Greenway, a Tory spokesman on Home Affairs, said he was not convinced such a Bill would be put forward.

"The Conservative Party would have to come to a collective view. It is understood they are hoping to encourage one of the 20 MPs to promote such a Bill."

But he said he was not aware there had been any statement yet that such a Bill had been proposed.

Dr David Heseltine, clinical director for elderly medicine at York District Hospital, said the situation was not as simple as working out who lived in accommodation that was energy-inefficient. He said there was also a bigger chance of people catching viral infections in the winter.

"All these things are interrelated. It is not through having cold houses per se that there are two extra deaths per day during the winter. I am not saying I agree but, I can see that the figure might be right," he said.

A spokesman for Age Concern in York said the figures issued by Friends of the Earth seemed high, but acknowledged that the number of excess winter deaths in the UK are comparatively higher than in other countries with harsher winters, such as Sweden or Norway.

The spokesman also expressed concern that some local elderly people live in some of the poorest accommodation.

"A lot of elderly people are living in the worst accommodation in York that is poorly heated," he said.

He went on to say that schemes did exist for them to their properties insulated and have other work carried out to them to improve their energy efficiency.

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