Falmouth Coastguard Operations Centre is to become part of the new coastguard national network for the very first time this week.

Work has been carried out at the search and rescue coordination centre at Pendennis Point, upgrading the technology and introducing new systems.

This means Falmouth will be connected to the National Maritime Operations Centre in Hampshire and other coastguard stations around the country, which will be able to offer mutual support during busy periods.

From Saturday, November 1, Falmouth and the new national network will start to take on operations from Brixham Coastguard.

The changes to Her Majesty’s Coastguard will see the National Maritime Operations Centre and ten other coastguard operation centres around the UK work together to manage the workload.

A spokesperson stressed there would be "no reduction in rescue resources," with the availability of coastguard rescue teams, lifeboats, rescue helicopters and other rescue units unaffected.

James Instance, Maritime Operations Controller at Falmouth Coastguards, said: “The public won’t notice any difference to the way search and rescue missions are responded to. If you call 999 and ask for the coastguard, or issue a mayday broadcast, we will still be here to help you.

“The only change is that we’ll have a new national network that will be able to oversee and assist with operations around the whole of the UK. Here at Falmouth CGOC we’re now part of this network, so we can call upon help from our fellow coastguards elsewhere in the country, and also in turn help them out if needed.”

The new national network is scheduled to be fully operational by the end of 2015.