Teenage pregnancies in North Somerset are falling and are now back among the lowest levels since records began.

The Office for National Statistics has published new figures showing just 66 conceptions were recorded for under-18 girls in the district in 2014, signifying a drop of almost half since 2009 alone.

Figures are down 0.2 per cent since last year, and close to 2012’s record low.

The drop has beaten even long-term national targets set before the turn of the century, something North Somerset Council said it puts down to ‘hard work across many agencies’.

One of those agencies is the district’s confidential teenage health service named No Worries!, which has helped young people since 2003, offering free contraception and impartial advice for anyone aged under 21.

Sharon Hartmann, a senior specialist nurse lead with the service, said the news was a positive reflection of how young people in the district were able to access sexual health services more easily through newly-available resources.

She said: “Education and access to contraception has played a key role in the reduction of teenage pregnancy rates.

“Our role is to ensure young people feel empowered to make informed, confident choices about their health and know where to go to get help. Education around sex and relationships must continue to be available to ensure young people in future generations are well equipped to make these decisions too.”

The director of Teenage Pregnancy Knowledge Exchange called the news an ‘extraordinary achievement’, after the figures beat the targets of the long-term national teenage pregnancy strategy, which was devised in 1999.

Alison Hadley said: “Many people thought the goal we set was unattainable and that high rates were an intractable part of English life.”