SELBY is a hotspot for teenage pregnancy, health bosses have warned.

But as a whole, North Yorkshire has won Government praise for its falling number of pregnant teens.

Authority leaders have pledged not to be complacent - and say they are now concentrating their efforts in the town.

Beverley Hughes, Government minister for children, young people and families, praised the work of North Yorkshire County Council after a report found there had been a 30.2 per cent drop in teenage pregnancy rates between 1998 and 2004.

That is the biggest fall in the Yorkshire and Humber region, and puts the council among the top eight authorities nationwide.

Across the county, in 1998 there were 366 teenage pregnancies, of which 47 per cent led to an abortion. In 2004, there were 290, again with 47 per cent leading to an abortion.

County councillor Caroline Patmore, who oversees services for young people in North Yorkshire, said: "The importance of sex and relationship education cannot be emphasised strongly enough.

"I applaud the sterling work of our sexual health workers and other staff working with young people.

"However, as research shows that teenage mothers are less likely to finish their education and more likely to bring up their children alone and in poverty, we cannot afford to be complacent.

"The county council must now ensure that its ambitious drive to halve the rate of teenage pregnancies by 2010 does not lose steam."

Between 2001 and 2003 in Selby, 26.8 women aged 15 to 17 out of every 1,000 fell pregnant. That compares with 19.9 in Ryedale.

The Selby North ward is a particular hotspot. Eastfields, Woodlands and Castle in Scarborough were also said to be of concern.

A campaign aimed at getting parents to approach the subject with their children, launched last Christmas, will run again in Selby and across the county in December 2006 and January 2007.

In East Yorkshire, the number of pregnancies also fell from 196 under-18s in 1998 to 189 in 2004, a drop of 9.1 per cent.

In York, in 2004, there were 113 teenage pregnancies, one up on the 112 of 2003.