Rescue teams aim to raise £1.8m for new base

Efforts to raise £1.8m to fund a new rescue building are under way.

Plans for a base in Penrith, Cumbria, for the town's mountain rescue team and the Cumbria Ore Mines Rescue Unit (COMRU) were approved by Westmorland and Furness Council.

Deputy team leader of Penrith Mountain Rescue Team (MRT) Luke Armitage said it had "completely outgrown" its current base and the new site would be used for co-ordinating emergency teams during major incidents.

He encouraged people to get in contact with ideas on how to raise the money.

Mr Armitage said mountain rescue had "massively changed" over the last 50 years.

Teams now help with water rescues, such as during floods in Carlisle in 2015, and wider searches for people where their are concerns for welfare.

"We've got more kit and more vehicles, our base has just become too small for us," Mr Armitage said.

Some of their vehicles have to be stored outside the current base, which raises safety concerns, Penrith MRT said.

The new base, planned as a two-storey building on the Gilwilly Industrial Estate, would also be used as a training facility.

COMRU, which operates Cumbria-wide and does not have an operating base, currently stores equipment and vehicles at members' houses.

Team Leader Chris Jones said: "The prospect of a centralised location from which to train and operate will make a big difference to the team."

Plans were approved earlier this month.

Mr Armitage said there is a rough timeline of two years for the construction of the building "from the ground up".

However, he said: "We assume it will take a little bit longer than that."

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