Government climbdown on coastguard cuts

A search and rescue helicopter from Stornoway coastguard centre, which will remain open following a government climbdown on cuts. Photograph: Murdo Macleod

The government has watered down plans to drastically reduce the number of coastguard centres.

The original proposals envisaged cutting the centres from 19 to nine, with only three remaining open 24 hours a day. But transport secretary Philip Hammond said 11 centres would remain open and all would operate round the clock.

The original proposals were criticised in a recent report by the Commons transport committee, which said it had "serious concerns that safety will be jeopardised if these proposals proceed".

Launching the report, the committee's chairman Louise Ellman said the coastguard proposals were "seriously flawed" and there was little support for them.

Hammond said the change was prompted by responses to a public consultation on the plans.

"It is clear from the responses that there is huge public and political admiration for the work of our coastguard, a clear consensus that change and modernisation is necessary but also some specific concerns about the original proposals," he said.

Coastguard centres in Swansea, Portland, Liverpool, Great Yarmouth, Brixham, and Walton on the Naze will close, as well as Clyde and Forth in Scotland.

The Public and Commercial Services union welcomed the climbdown but said it would oppose any compromises in safety.

The union's general secretary Mark Serwotka said: "This fight is not over. We are committed to ensuring we retain the local knowledge of our coastlines that is essential to saving lives, as we are determined to defend all public services and our communities from the government's cuts."

Bob Crow, general secretary of the RMT transport union, said: "While the government has clearly been forced by public and union pressure to make significant changes to their original proposals, we still remain concerned that the revised plans may leave gaps in the service and will be seeking further assurances that there will be no impact on the safety of our members out on the high seas."

Conservative MP Sheryll Murray, whose husband died in a boating accident, called the coastguard closures a "disaster" and urged the government to fulfil its promise to listen.

"Today the English Channel became a more dangerous place," she said. "Plans to reduce the Coastguard stations from 19 to just 11 is a disaster for public safety for all sea users."

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