I WOULD like to respond to the article, 'A borough of teenage mums' (Echo, April 11).

Sexual health coordinator Ms Emma Peaple is correct in highlighting deprivation and the financial impact of living in a tourist area.

However, although it is clear that sex education is a vital component for tackling Weymouth and Portland's high rate of teenage pregnancy, it is the wider social-economic climate of the area that leaves us with a rate above the national average.

Weymouth and Portland needs to undergo a process of modernisation that moves it beyond a reliance on tourism and social care as the key areas for employment.

Opportunity and inspiration, from education, recreation and employment, is needed to provide young people with hope for the future and the necessary motivation to achieve.

Solutions will of course require change and it is the initiative and drive from those with positions of leadership within council and government to ensure this happens.

Martin Gosling (with 3 daughters), Southdown Road, Weymouth,