Save the UK Coastguard Centres Petition,

[Bay Runner]

Save the UK Coastguard Centres Petition


If implemented, these proposals will have a serious impact on the safety of everybody who puts to sea or uses the beaches & coastline around the UK.
Please lend your support.



The government has recently announced its intention to turn the UK's 18 Coastguard Co-ordination Centres into THREE 24hr centres & FIVE that are only open during daylight hours (see http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12007031).

UK Coastguard HQ Centres are responsible for the co-ordination of Search and Rescue along the UK coastline, as well as providing shipping information and a number of other essential services along the UK coastline.

Announcing the cuts, Shipping Minister Mike Penning said "Our seas are becoming busier, with larger ships and increasing numbers of offshore renewable energy platforms making key areas of our seas more congested. There are also increasing numbers of people using our beaches, coastlines and seas for leisure activities.”

If 10 Coastguard HQ Centres close and only 3 are left operating 24/7 then the implications will be massive; affecting both maritime shipping and the lives of hundreds of thousands of tourists across the UK each year.

It's time to show the government just how important the Coastguard HQ centres around the UK are! This petition is intended to urge the UK Coalition Government to urgently review this decision. The safety of those at sea and on the beach is far more important than any cost savings.

Save money on minister's salaries, not by endangering lives!

(The government has recently scrapped the Fire Service Plan for regional control centres after wasting millions £££ of tax payers money)

Save the UK Coastguard Centres Petition


Cheers
For your support

 

[Bay Runner]

Thanks for your support if you have signed.

 

[Ticktockmy]

From programmes I have seen, about the Coastguard controls centres they don’t actually look at what is happening at sea visually but rely on electronics, Radio, Radar and AIS etc, to see what happening at sea.

The Coastguard lookouts where visual watch were keep have been shut for some years now.
So as far as I can see, the Control of our shipping lanes around our coast will not be effected by a reduction, after all if the control centres were in the middle of the Sahara Desert, in this day and age they would still be able to be as effective, as if in the current locations.

I believe that they do maintain local CG mobile units, at key points around our coasts, and along with the Lifeboat, National Coast watch institution and the general public and the array of electronics availble to the modern mariner I think our Marine time safety is reassured.

 

[Norm]

I'm in two minds on this one.

Many mariners think, for instance, that Solent Coastguard operates out of Calshot Tower. The reality is that the only CG presence there is a radar and a microwave dish to some anonymous office in Southampton which I don't think even has a sea view.

Even if they were all at the top of 300-foot towers, 18 centres can't cover much of the coast-line and I've a feeling that they don't need to anyway, as police control rooms seem to do OK and they are generally windowless bunkers.

Organisations like the National Coastwatch Institution. Which reminds me, the NCI only do their watches in daylight, so they don't seem to thing there is that much a safety issue when it's dark. But for a few nights a year, the Solent closes down at sunset, there's little traffic beyond the professionals and the commercials once things have got dark.

So, after thinking on it a bit, I'm not in two minds at all.

 

[mickle]

signed

 

[Bay Runner]

It is true, Coastguards no longer conduct a visual lookout. Only Dover Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre uses radar to monitor the shipping in the traffic separation schemes of the Dover Straits.

The role of the Coastguard is to initiate and coordinate all civil maritime search and rescue around the UK coast. This includes gathering and evaluating information, ensuring that there are sufficient resources to conduct a successful Search & Rescue Mission.

As I view it, there are basically two types of people that are call upon the Coastguard Emergency Service, the professional Marina & the Hobbyist

The professional Marina is well regulated, and does not often call upon assistance. Their vessels are fitted out with the correct lifesaving equipment and detection aids such as EPIRBs (Electronic Position Indicating Radio Beacons) etc.

It is the hobbyist that uses the inshore waters, cliffs and beaches of the UK who more often requires Coastguard assistance – rescue co-ordination;

Anglers, Surfers, Wind Surfers, Cliff Walkers, Fishermen, Kayakers, Divers, Light Aircraft, Missing Persons - Children, Cliff Fallers, People Stuck in the Mud, Potential or Attempted Suicide, Overdue Vessels, Inflatable’s being washed off Shore, People Cut Off By the Tide, Small vessels with defects (Foul propellers – dismasted), Man Overboard, Animal Rescue (To stop owners putting them selves at risk), Jet Skiers Divers missing – injured and Capsized Dinghies –Yachts.

(The list goes on and numbers are increasing)

These people who are in distress are very often unable to give an accurate position. A search object in the sea, a person or vessel of any size drifts, it will not stay in the same position. To complete a successful Search & Rescue Mission requires search planning and coordination of Search & Rescue Units such as;

RAF Search & Rescue Aircraft
RNLI Lifeboats (Volunteers)
Non RNLI Lifeboats (Volunteers)
Coastguard Rescue Teams (Volunteers)
Police
Police Helicopters
Ambulance
Air Ambulance
Other Vessels in the Area
Lifeguards
Harbour Authorities
National Coastwatch Institute. (Volunteers)
MOD

Local knowledge is the key to a swift response to reports of life threatening situations (A 999 telephone call, radio distress message or a report of a distress flare)

It is not as simple as typing a post code to a database to locate the person in distress. Many places around the coast have local names; in some cases different places have the same name. Then there are Welsh names such as Pwlldu ! Having an in depth knowledge of the local coastline, tidal information, coastal hazards and Search & Rescue resources is essential.

The Fire & Rescue Service have abandoned their plans for regional control centres because of local knowledge issues and not being able to set to work the support IT systems.
http://www.bbc.co.uk...ngland-12042563

In fact the now shipping minister who is proposing these changes was apposed to Fire & Rescue Service Regional Control Centres.

http://www.mikepenni...regionalisation

If you or your family put to sea or use the UK beaches or Coastline you will be affected by these proposed changes and I would politely urge you to support this petition.

Thank you for your support


http://www.petitiononline.com/ukcghq/petition.html

 

[Bay Runner]

If you have signed the petition, thank for your support.

If you wish you can write to your MP by following the following link, it will only take a few seconds (you do not have to be a PCS member)

http://www.pcs.org.uk/sos


Cheers

 

[Bay Runner]

If you have signed the petition, thank for your support.

Please lend your support

We have nearly reached 10,000 signatures

Many thanks

 

[tjsc1]

Done!!
Bl**dy brilliant service.

 

[Bay Runner]

Done!!
Bl**dy brilliant service.

Thanks for your support - tjsc1

 

[Bay Runner]

Thanks for your continuing support

 

[cisamcgu]

Although I agree with the petetion and will sign it, the phrase

"Save money on minister's salaries, not by endangering lives! "

strikes me as a populist, tabloidian (is that a word?) statement and seems to drag the whole thing back to a bit of petty sniping at MPs.