Coastguard cuts challenged at public meeting 1/3/11
Coastguard chiefs were told to go home and think again about axing Stornoway Coastguard station at a heated official consultation meeting in the port’s Nicolson Institute tonight (Tues).
About 65 concerned islanders tackled coastguard bosses over proposed cuts to save
£7.5m a year by slashing the 18 UK-
The rented Aberdeen Coastguard base, the most expensive to run, would be retained
as Scotland’s sole 24-
Charlie Nicolson slammed pitching Shetland and Stornoway stations against each other
for partial survival as part-
Some 45 jobs are at risk across both islands while only ten people would be needed to man whichever station is reprieved.
Mr Nicolson said: “We are angry about these proposals. You are putting safety of people at risk. That is not acceptable..”
He claimed the “government are playing Stornoway against Shetland. They both should be kept.
“Go back home to your different committees and tell them Stornoway is not an option to cut.
“Shetland is not an option nor is cutting the Nimrod service or taking away the coastguard tug.”
Campaigner David McBeth said it was not modernisation “this is butchery.”
He maintained substituting local knowledge for geographical database like Google Earth was dangerous.
He said a search on the internet map for Blackhill in Berneray returned about 60 locations while another landmark “got a B&B in the middle of nowhere, so your technology doesn’t work.”
Experienced sea captain and former coastguard officer Angus Murray said the loss of local expertise could cost lives.
He gave the example of an agitated 999 emergency call where the only piece of information was the name of a virtually unknown local rock yet Stornoway coastguard’s actions plucked the man out of the water within 15 minutes, which would not happen under the new plans, he said.
He warned Scotland Coastguard chief Bill McFadyen, “if it can go wrong, it will go wrong.”
Concerned islanders believed Mr McFadyen fudged a response over testing out the technology which lies at the centre of the radical revamp.
Shouts from the audience demanded an answer if a live “real test was carried out and not a tabletop exercise.”
Mr McFadyen, insisted that safety was “paramount and everything will be tested and tried” before the new systems would be implemented.
He stressed the “whole idea is ensuring we can arm everybody with that local information quickly rather than relaying on one or two people” who may not even be on duty at the time of an emergency.
He denied the closures were a “a done deal. The consultation will carry though until 24th March. All the feedback will be gathered and looked at” to shape a final proposal for the government.