Plans to
modernise the Coastguard have been confirmed by Shipping Minister
Mike Penning. The proposals, which were announced for consultation
in July, will make the Coastguard better coordinated, more
resilient to the challenges of the future and will increase the
number of regular coastguard officers working in coastal
communities, who provide leadership and support to the volunteers
of the Coastguard Rescue Service.
The plans - which will modernise how rescues are coordinated and
do not affect the services which go out to perform rescues -will
create a nationally networked system of Coastguard coordination
centres comprising:
one Maritime Operations Centre, to be established in Fareham,
Hants, with a back-up facility at the existing Dover coordination
centre, both operating on a 24 hour basis; and eight Coastguard
Centres, all operated on a 24 hour basis, located at Falmouth,
Milford Haven, Holyhead, Belfast, Stornoway, Shetland, Aberdeen
and Humber. The station at London is also retained.
Mike Penning said:
"After many years of uncertainty, these reforms provide
a clear plan for the future of Her Majesty’s Coastguard. They will
deliver a resilient and fully networked national rescue
coordination service. They will make much better use of the
talents and skills of our Coastguards and will provide more
interesting and rewarding work with better pay.
"The UK coastguard has a great heritage. This is a
blueprint for a 21st century Coastguard that commands even greater
respect and it will provide an organisation of which coastguards
themselves and all of us can be justly proud."
Under the plans the Coastguard co-ordination centres at Forth,
Clyde, Great Yarmouth, Liverpool, Thames, Swansea, Brixham and
Portland will close progressively by 31 March 2015. The centre at
Solent will be replaced by the new Maritime Operations Centre.
While a rescue coordination function will no longer be required
in these locations, new coastal operational hubs - providing
better leadership, support and training for the volunteers of the
Coastguard Rescue Service - will be established at the existing
sites at Liverpool, Swansea and Thames, as well as in the Clyde
area, and through the further development of the MCA’s site at the
former HMS Daedalus at Lee-on-Solent.
The new Maritime Operations Centre will be housed in a purpose
built emergency services centre at the vacant Fire Control Centre
building at Fareham. The building’s existing facilities mean that
the Maritime Operations Centre can be established quickly.
How Coastguard rescues are co-ordinated has changed little over
the past forty years. Currently, operations are coordinated from
19 dispersed centres with no network of national integration. This
means that there is very limited resilience in the event of high
demand or technical problems and it is impossible to spread the
workload evenly across the system, leaving staff in one centre
struggling to cope with call volumes while workloads in another
may be low. The plans confirmed today will create a resilient and
nationally networked system of Coastguard coordination centres as
well as giving Coastguards more opportunity to develop and apply
their skills, offering increased responsibility, a recognised
career path and the remuneration to reflect this.
Notes to Editors
1. The blueprint for the future of HM Coastguard is available on
the Maritime and Coastguard Agency website:
http://www.dft.gov.uk/mca/mcga07-home/emergencyresponse/mcga-searchandrescue.htm
2. The Government first launched a consultation on Coastguard
modernisation in December 2010. The Government then published
updated proposals for consultation in July 2011. The first set of
proposals had proposed establishing two Maritime Operations
Centres (in the Southampton/Portsmouth area & Aberdeen)
and five sub-centres, operating in daylight hours only, as well as
retaining the 24 hour centre at Dover which oversees English
Channel activity. 3. There were a total of over 1,800 responses to
the consultation launched in December 2011. These reflected a
general acceptance that change and modernisation is necessary, but
also expressed concerns over a potential loss of local knowledge
and a perceived weakening of operational relationships. The second
consultation, on the revised proposals launched in July 2011, has
attracted 800 responses. 4. Compared to the consultation launched
in December 2010 the plans confirmed today keep more centres open,
all operating for 24 hours, and retain more coastguard jobs. At
least one coastguard centre in each of the existing operational
'pairs' - where work and local intelligence is
already regularly shared - will be retained. 5. That second
consultation exercise invited views on four specific issues: the
case for a single Maritime Operations Centre; keeping both the
centres at Stornoway and on Shetland; whether there were factors
to support the retention of Liverpool rather than its paired
centre at Holyhead; and whether there were factors to support the
retention of Swansea rather than its paired centre at Milford
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