Bookmark and Share
wpa6cca551.png
wp5533b116.gif

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hebrides News - www.hebrides-news.com
wp0a37d33c.png

Computers

Repairs  

Sales

 Service

 

Desktops & Laptops

Phones

Cameras

ipods

 

 

 

 

 

wp12dbaba8.png

Consoles

& Games

01851

700178

17 Bayhead St

Stornoway, Lewis

 

 

wpc1cc2d02.gif

Planning permission for new lifeboat station          13/2/12

The RNLI is to receive planning permission to establish a new lifeboat station in South Harris which cover a maritime rescue gap in the Western Isles.  It is the RNLI’s first new Scottish station in four years.

Western Isles Council’s planning committee has approved permission to erect a temporary portacabin base at Leverburgh harbour.

The building is essential for the lifeboat crews to get changed into survival gear when called out to an emergency.

It will also be used by the local volunteers for seamanship training. It incorporates a workshop for the lifeboat’s mechanic.

The lifeboat station becomes operational in May after the crew pass their sea survival training at the Lifeboat College in Poole.

There they will be put in charge of a £350,000 all-weather Mersey class lifeboat to navigate from the south coast of England to the Hebrides.

In the summer, this initial relief vessel will be swapped for another 12-metre Mersey class boat which is due to remain at Leverburgh for the length of a trial which could last up to three years.

During call-outs, the lifeboat would have a six-crew complement. The lifeboat has a service speed of 17 knots and a range of 140 miles and is expected to lie afloat at anchor or moorings.

She would help close the operational lifeboat gap between RNLI stations in Stornoway and Barra, which are 135 miles apart, and Portree.

Barra and Stornoway lifeboats are located at each end of the Western Isles archipelago but, even steaming at full speed, would take around two hours to the reach Leverburgh.

At one point, there was consideration of the community financing a private lifeboat to cover the west coast of Uist after fatalities and incidents in the area.