SUPPORT has been swelling for a campaign to help save a New Quay lifeboat with links to Stourbridge.

The RNLI's Mersey class lifeboat, The Frank and Lena Clifford of Stourbridge, is to be withdrawn in 2020 and the lifeboat charity announced in June that it would be replacing it with an inshore lifeboat instead.

Funded largely thanks to a legacy of nearly £300,000 from Stourbridge industrialist Frank Clifford, the all-weather lifeboat, based at New Quay Lifeboat Station, Wales, is nearing the end of its 25-year operational life.

Next nearest stations at Pwllheli and Barmouth will each be allocated new 25-knot Shannon class all-weather lifeboats but New Quay's all0weather boat will be replaced with the Atlantic 85 - which lifeboat crew member Huw Williams believes “will leave a dangerous gap in all-weather cover”.

He said: "The Atlantic 85 is designed to operate closer to shore.

"Over the last 10 years, New Quay's lifeboat has carried out many services that were beyond the capability of an Atlantic 85, saving many lives.

“The nearest all-weather boats at Barmouth and Fishguard would take up to an hour-and-a-half to respond to an emergency in the New Quay and Aberaeron areas.

"This is clearly at odds with the RNLI's central mission statement to reach at least 90 per cent of all casualties within 10 nautical miles of the coast within 30 minutes of a lifeboat launch - in any weather."

The Stourbridge branch of the RNLI has long had close links to New Quay Lifeboat Station and branch chairman Chris Fonteyn MBE, an honorary life governor of the RNLI, said: "We’re disappointed there’s not going to be a replacement all-weather lifeboat. They’re a splendid team at New Quay. It’s very sad. Hopefully the RNLI will look at these concerns."

The decision has been made as a result of the RNLI’s five-year coast review and charity bosses say they have taken into consideration the number and types of rescues carried out by each lifeboat, changing trends and water use within the area, search and rescue demands, costs and future needs.

They say the capability and standards of lifeboats are constantly developing - resulting in safer, more advanced vessels and the Atlantic is more manoeuvrable and the fastest lifeboat in the RNLI's fleet.

George Rawlinson, RNLI operations director, said when announcing the decision that changing the type of lifeboat at a station is never "taken lightly" but the decision to replace the all-weather boat at New Quay with an inshore vessel was "underpinned by extensive research" which concluded services could be carried out safely and effectively by the Atlantic 85, supported by the 25-knot lifeboats from neighbouring stations if needed.

A campaign urging the RNLI to rethink its decision has been gathering momentum and 10,000 people have signed a petition to try and save the all-weather lifeboat.

To sign the online petition go to https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/save-the-shannon-class-lifeboat-at-new-quay.

The Ceredigion Lifeboat Campaign has also gained cross party political support across Wales and the UK.