LIVES could be lost after a dispute between a power company and a farmer apparently ruined plans for a new coastguard station in Northumberland, it has been warned.

That was the claim of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency at Howick, near Alnwick, after the row seemingly left its scheme for a new base lying in tatters.

A team of 14 volunteers currently run coastguard stations at Howick and Boulmer. Both facilities are too small, more than 100-years-old and poorly equipped. A service vehicle has to be stationed at a third location as it can not be accommodated at either site.

Coastguard bosses have over many years been looking for sites for a new modern base at which the two teams could join forces.

In February last year, they were given some land by Lord Howick at the village of his name.

A planning application was submitted and approved by Northumberland County Council by last June.

Coastguards approached power company Northern Power Grid (NPG) about the electricity supply to the station. It was agreed that underground cables would be the best option.

They asked a tenant farmer if the cables could be placed beneath his land, but despite talks having been ongoing since February, the power company and the farmer’s agent George White have been unable to agree on the level of compensation to be paid for the disruption caused by the work.

Coastguard estates bosses at national level had initially allocated funding for the project in 2010, and rolled that over to this year.

However, they warned recently that the money could not be carried over again and that it would be allocated elsewhere in the new year, if agreement could not be reached by today.

A spokesman for NPG yesterday said it had made a revised offer to the farmer’s agent on Thursday – with no alternative for coastguards but to use his land – but was still awaiting a response. No-one was available for comment at Mr White’s office in Alnwick.

As it appeared that the end-of-year deadline would pass without agreement, coastguards at Howick last night claimed lives could be lost if the new station isn’t built.

Paul Sparrow, a coastguard rescue officer and deputy station officer for Howick, said the new base would have provided training facilities and improved communications, which would have helped the volunteers save lives.

Mr Sparrow said: “It could come back to the fact we are not in the right place at the right time. It is just very frustrating.”

The NPG spokesman said: “We made what we believed to be a reasonable offer but the landowner has not been able to agree to these proposals. We have since put forward a revised offer and are awaiting acknowledgement of this.”