THE CREATION of Hampshire's new coastguard supercentre was slammed today by a committee of MPs.

The Transport Select Committee claims nobody seems to know what the role and responsibility of staff based at Kites Croft in Segensworth, near Fareham, will be.

It criticised the "worrying lack of information" surrounding the Maritime Operations Centre (MOC), which will replace a national network of 18 coastguard stations.

Under the sweeping reforms, emergency calls will be handled by the MOC in partnership with eight coastguard stations and a back-up centre in Dover.

Ministers say the new model will be more efficient and they deny the aim is to cut costs.

But critics have raised concerns about the loss of local knowledge when emergency call-outs are received.

Labour MP Louise Ellman, who chairs the committee, said: "There is a worrying lack of information about what coastguards at the MOC will actually do from day to day or how these new staff will work with local coastguards."

It is unclear whether the MOC will take control of major incidents and "sideline" the other stations, or whether it will monitor their work, "adding little or nothing", the MPs said.

The committee's report, published today, also points to low morale in the coastguard service since the controversial reforms were announced, and an exodus of experienced staff unwilling to move to Hampshire to work at the MOC.

The MOC will be based in the building originally earmarked for as the ill-fated £16m regional fire control centre under reforms scrapped by the Government.

That project was finally scrapped in 2010 amid spiralling costs. The new centre, which was due to handle 999 calls from across the South East, had already been built and was costing £173,668 a month in rent.

After ministers decided to cut their losses, they decided to switch its use to a MOC. It is currently being fitted out, and live operations are set to begin in April 2014.

But in their report, the MPs say: "In our view, the loss of experienced coastguards is one of the most significant risks to the successful implementation of the Government's reform programme. Years of uncertainty about the shape of the service, station closures and low morale have acted in combination to drain talent from the service. Finding experienced staff willing to transfer to the new MOC in Fareham may prove particularly difficult."