Coastguard cuts could put lives at risk
25th March 2011
Speaking in a Westminster Hall debate on Government changes to HM Coastguard, Labour MP for Southampton Test Alan Whitehead argued that changes could put unnecessary strain on Southampton’s rescue coordination centre.
Under the proposals, the UK’s maritime rescue co-ordination will be centralised into two 24-hour stations – one in Southampton and the other in Aberdeen. There will be five supporting sub-stations, including Humber Coastguard in Bridlington, which will be open during daylight hours only. Ten coastguard co-ordination centres will close and the number of rescue co-ordination staff will be cut by 50 per cent.
In his speech Dr Whitehead criticised these proposals, saying:
“Taking calls and co-ordinating services across a huge expanse of coast is way beyond any experience that centre may have of what such a service would consist of. I wonder about the strain and stress that will come upon those people. Yes, they will have jobs in the centre, and yes, it will be a 24-hour service, but they will be co-ordinating a service on the basis of quite possibly nothing much being on the other end of it. We are talking about circumstances in which people are directing services in a remote part of the country and hoping that they have done a good job and got it right.”
Speaking after the debate he added:
“It seems fewer Southampton jobs at HM Coastguard will be lost in these cuts than was feared in December, which is positive news. However there still remains the bigger issue of the effectiveness of having national coordination stations replace local ones, and about the strain this will place on resources in Southampton. As coastguard representatives have themselves said, centralisation will result in the loss of local knowledge and in coastguards co-ordinating rescues in areas they are unfamiliar with. This is obviously dangerous and could put lives at risk.”
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