A SURVEY of residents in an area of Grange-over-Sands most affected by weeks of disruption caused by gangs of cocklers has shown overwhelming support for a national licensing system to tackle the problem.

Some 200 Kents Bank residents were asked by Westmorland and Lonsdale MP Tim Collins for their views on the severity of the problem and how best it could be solved.

Just under half of the respondents said the regular invasion by more than 300 cocklers to the unregulated cockle beds in Morecambe Bay had caused "a lot" of disturbance.

Six out of ten said they were woken by cockling gangs clogging up narrow roads outside their homes with dozens of noisy vehicles before 5am.

Over 90 per cent of people said that local police were doing their best to tackle the problem given their limited powers, and 98 per cent said they wanted to see a national licensing scheme.

"It's abundantly clear that the actions of these cockling gangs have caused a great deal of disturbance to this normally quiet residential part of Grange," said Mr Collins.

"What's needed now is firm action from the Government to introduce a national licensing scheme which will prevent the sort of Wild West scenes we have seen in Kents Bank over the past few months and protect the livelihoods of local cocklers whose families have fished the Bay for generations."