WYRE councillors are under pressure to throw the Fleetwood to Knott End ferry a lifeline over plans to axe the ailing service.

Dozens of people turned up to express concern over Cabinet plans to scrap the historic service during a meeting of the council's Physical Environment Committee in Poulton on Tuesday, February 3.

The committee are set to prepare a report on the future of the 100-year-old ferry after councillors vetoed a decision to shelve plans for a new all-year-round service deemed "too great a financial burden" to continue.

Now Lancashire County Council have restated an original offer to contribute £450,000 for the construction of a new multi-purpose vessel and improvements to ferry slip facilities, as well as an annual sum of £15,000 towards running costs. But Wyre Council leader -- Cllr Alan Vincent -- claims the "only way" plans for the new all-year-round ferry service could fall into place is for county council officials to "rethink their original offer."

Cllr Vincent said: "As it stands at the moment the plans for funding of the ferry project are just not feasible.

"One potential ferry operator came forward with a tender and based on this the costs of running the service as a year-long venture are far too great to consider. The whole project would work out as far too expensive for the public. We are committed to looking at new ways of solving the situation such as reducing the length of the ferry agreement, securing short-term grants from bodies such as the Countryside Agency and putting out a new advert for potential operational contractors.

"But realistically speaking, the only way the ferry plans could go ahead is if we were to get more financial support at county council level.

"And I suspect one of the recommendations set to be put to the Cabinet in coming weeks will be for us to urge the County Council to rethink their original offer."

The Physical Environment Committee report on the service is expected to be presented to the Cabinet for discussion by the end of the month.