HAMPSHIRE'S coastguard rescue centre has been saved today after Hampshire peer Lord Donaldson told deputy prime minister John Prescott it should not be merged with another station.

Lord Donaldson of Lymington recommended it should remain in its present location at Lee-on-Solent and said an alternative local site might become available in the future.

In his report, he said he had initially been attracted to the proposal to "co-locate" Solent coastguards to new unspecified premises shared with Portland coastguards at Weymouth, Dorset.

But after more detailed study he concluded that advantages were outweighed by disadvantages and said: "I cannot support the policy of co-location."

His findings will be met with huge relief by coastguards and mariners in the Solent who fought a campaign against proposals to close the rescue centre and move its coastguards by autumn 2003.

Lord Donaldson, who Mr Prescott, pictured right in a coastguard helicopter, asked to look at the proposal with a "fresh pair of eyes" after it was twice approved by ministers, set out five reasons for his conclusion.

He said there were advantages in having operations rooms in more than one centre, and as an example pointed to the rescue operation after freak winds wrecked a sailing regatta off Weymouth earlier this year, and keeping local knowledge in rescue centres.

Although the premises occupied by both Solent and Portland coastguards were not ideal he said he would be content to see them kept as they were both at least by the sea and it was reassuring to the public to have manned rescue centres.

Lord Donaldson also said that, while public sector employees should be expected to move to new areas, coastguards put down roots in an area and it was worth retaining them.

His recommendation represents a setback for John Astbury, the chief coastguard in Southampton, who proposed co-location as part of his five-year strategy for the coastguard service - although Lord Donaldson was understood to have backed the closure of other rescue centres.

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