An increase in the number of pensioners in the region dying from the cold is a "scar on society", a charity says.

Around 4,700 elderly people died in the North-East and Yorkshire last winter when temperatures plummeted.

This is an increase of around 800 on the previous winter.

Mervyn Kohler, spokesman for Help the Aged, said the figures were a scar on society that should shame us all.

"It is inhuman that in the North-East and Yorkshire region in the 21st century so many older people die needless deaths simply because of the cold," he added.

"Rising fuel costs coupled with poor housing conditions are consigning thousands of vulnerable older people to an unnecessary and cruel death.

"At the present rate, by the year 2010, 200,000 older people would have died because of cold-related deaths - a figure roughly the same as the population of York.

"This is nothing short of obscene."

The charity has accused the Government of failing to tackle the problem and has urged ministers to invest more in the Warm Front home energy efficiency scheme.

Nationally, around 31,600 elderly people died because of the cold last winter, the Office for National Statistics claims.

However, the 2004/2005 figure is still below that seen in the winters of 1998/1999 and 1999/2000, when there were 46,840 and 48,440 cold-related deaths respectively.

Health Minister Lord Warner said: "It is important to put these figures on winter excess deaths in context and it would be wrong to draw conclusions on a single year's data.

"The number of excess deaths last year is significantly lower than in 1998/99 and 1999/2000 and the long-term trend continues to show a steady decline."