THE GOVERNMENT’S Coastguard station planned reforms, including some closures, do not address the public’s very real and serious concerns about safety, MPs were told yesterday.
They are not thought to have the support of the maritime community, the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) told the Commons transport committee.
The coalition had originally produced plans which would have seen the number of Coastguards reduced from 19 to eight, of whom only three would operate around the clock.
But in summer 2011, ministers announced that 11 Coastguard stations would stay open and all would operate 24 hours a day.
However, eight stations will close over the period up to 2014-15. These are the stations at Clyde, Forth, Portland, Liverpool, Yarmouth, Brixham, Thames and Swansea.
In a written submission to the transport committee yesterday, the PCS, which represents more than 500 members in the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, said the government’s plans were drawn up without full and proper consultation with the union or with the communities that use the coastlines.
The union added the planned closures, with a reduction of staffing in some of the others, would “lead to serious operational under-staffing that will impair the ability of staff to carry out search-and-rescue operations in a timely and professional manner”.
The union told the MPs that some of the closures had “not been thought through” and that staff were unhappy about the process.
It added that the loss of experienced staff would lead to the new maritime operations centre and other Coastguard operations centres “having, for many years, to rely on inexperienced staff, which will lead to mistakes being made and possibly lives being lost”.