A MOUNTAIN rescue team leader has hit out at the lack of National Lottery funding awarded to the life-saving service in the Lake District, reports Victoria Clark.

Andy Dell, who heads the 40-strong Kendal Mountain Rescue Team, said the amount of lottery cash awarded to rescue teams in the area paled into significance with the millions which had been ploughed into the Millennium Dome.

"Estimates put the annual number of visitors to the Lake District in the same league as visitors to the Dome, yet in comparison the amount of support from the Lotteries Commission for Lake District Mountain Rescue has been tiny," he said.

Last year the Kendal team's Busher Walk base underwent a £120,000 revamp to provide a new control room and improved garage facilities, although this work had to be financed entirely by public donations, following a failed bid for National Lottery funding.

Kendal MRT attended 36 call-outs last year - its busiest year to date.

"There are a massive amount of visitors coming to the Lake District and a massive amount of those people come to walk," said Mr Dell.

"These people deserve support and assistance if they get into trouble."

He estimated that it would cost about £25,000 to run the service this year, which would also be covered completely through donations.

"We will find the funding, and I wouldn't necessarily expect the Lottery to support the ongoing running costs, but its the big, practical projects that we could do with the help."

His comments come just weeks after one of the busiest mountain rescue teams, the Langdale and Ambleside MRT, was granted planning permission to build a new base.

The team, which wants to demolish its existing base on Lake Road, Ambleside, and replace it with a new state-of-the-art centre with improved facilities including a 70-seat lecture hall and disabled access.

Team leader Mark Eccles explained he hoped that the new building would be more accessible for the community, and that team members would be able to use it to help promote their work.

Mr Eccles said the team was hoping that the bulk of funding for the new centre - which is expected to cost in the region of £500,000 - would come from Lottery cash.

A bid for money will be submitted once plans for the building are finalised.

Lisa Blanchard, of the National Lotteries Charities Board, told the Gazette that every application for funding was carefully assessed on its own merits.

She added that bids from mountain rescue teams had been granted in the past via the small and main grants programme.