RESCUERS will take longer to respond to emergencies at sea around the Morecambe Bay coastline if the general-purpose boat is removed from service at Walney, an independent report has concluded.

A row erupted in January last year when the Maritime and Coastguard Agency announced the mobile 5.1-metre single outboard inflatables, which can be launched from shores, in estuaries and on lakes, were to be withdrawn from service at Walney and Knott End, near Fleetwood, because they no longer met the updated Rescue Boat Code.

The MCA said replacements were unnecessary but the Walney team insisted there was a need for the boat in the area and launched a campaign.

In the meantime, the MCA agreed to allow the rescue teams to continue using the boats until a report to determine if there was a need was completed by Southampton-based Marico Marine.

The report - released this week - concluded that there was a need for a boat in the Walney area but that the one at Knott End could be removed.

John Riding, of Marico Marine, said the report assessed the state of search and rescue in the whole of the Morecambe Bay area, from Walney to Humphrey Head.

“We looked at the 2,000 incidents there has been during the last ten years and discovered the average response time was 15 minutes.

“If the general purpose boat was permanently decommissioned at Walney we found that the response time would increase to half-an-hour as the current boat gets the team from A to B quicker than the other two vessels at Walney.

Chief coastguard for the MCA, John Astbury, is now assessing the findings of the report.

He will announce at a meeting with the crews on Monday, November 24, if a boat will remain at Walney.

But station officer at Walney, Steve Simm, is hopeful following the publication of the report.

“We are very, very positive about the findings of the report as it backs up what we have said all along about there being a need for the boat.

“I don’t know how much it will cost to replace but you can’t put a cost on a life,” he said.

Mr Riding said the MCA never intended to remove the general-purpose boat at Arnside but that the report proved there was a need.

“But we did find that the one at Knott End could be removed from service as cover by an RNLI boat is already in place,” he said.