COUNCILLORS have backed the relaunch of a new group giving residents a greater say about the Windermere ferry.

Cumbria County Council has agreed to re-establish its Windermere ferry advisory committee which last met seven years ago.

Calls for its relaunch were made in the wake of the serious blaze last May which put the service out of action for five months.

The ferry connects Bowness with Hawkshead and its loss led to lengthy diversions by road around England’s longest lake.

South Lakeland District Council’s lake administration committee backed the formation of a new group at a meeting in Kendal on Friday.

Cllr Matt Brereton said: “Everyone is aware that last year was fairly disastrous in terms of ferry availability following the fire. One of the messages that came back loud and clear from residents on the west side of Windermere was that there wasn’t really a conduit for communications from the community to the county council and vice versa.”

Cllr Brereton, the Conservative councillor for High Furness, said better communication was needed about “future resilience, road signage and updates on ferry availability.”

He said: “It became very clear that had we had this group still in existence, we could have helped the county council, so I’m pleased to see that the cabinet and the South Lakeland local committee have agreed this.”

Windermere town councillor Jennifer Borer said that the town council fully supported the new committee.

She said: “The committee always had representation from the town council and parish councils on the other side of the lake. who were the eyes and ears on the ground. The ability to have some input was lost completely and some disastrous happenings might have been avoided to some extent.”

Cllr Andrew Jarvis, Liberal Democrat member for Windermere, said it was important the parishes and district council were represented on the new committee.

n The lake administra-tion committee is to write to South Lakeland local committee about membership of the group.