Meeting the minister: Dennis O’Connor & Graham Warlow

ON MONDAY (Nov 17) representatives of the national Coastguard SOS campaign group met UK Shipping Minister John Hayes in Westminster to discuss the controversial plan to close half of the UK’s maritime rescue coordination centres (MRCC’s). Local campaigners Dennis O’Connor and Graham Warlow made the trip to the Houses of Parliament, where they were joined by colleague Lynne Gray for the high-level meeting.

After the meeting we spoke with Coastguard SOS co-ordinator Dennis O’Connor, who expressed his gratitude to local MP’s Simon Hart and Stephen Crabb, who met the group in July along with local AM’s Paul Davies and Angela Burns: “Simon Hart has been so important in helping arrange our meeting with the Minister. He has taken a keen interest in our efforts. He knows, while we are proud of our efforts to ensure Milford Haven Coastguard Station remains operational, that this is a national issue that affects people’s lives and safety on a huge scale.”

Dennis explained that the meeting was ‘an opportunity for the campaign group to relay continued safety fears and discuss the way in-which the closure programme has been handled by the Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA)’. Following the closure of stations at Forth, Clyde, Yarmouth, Solent, Portland and Brixham the meeting also presented the opportunity for the campaign group to ensure that the Minister, who has only been in post since the last cabinet reshuffl e, was given the opportunity to receive information that otherwise would not be given to him by the MCA or Department for Transport (DfT).

“We took the opportunity to provide Mr Hayes with an overview of how the service has suffered since the closure programme was announced four years ago,” said Mr O’Connor. “It’s unlikely that certain information would readily be disseminated by the departments who are answerable to him. There are always two sides to a story and we were of the firm opinion that as the Minister is now responsible for maritime affairs then he should be fully appraised in order to be able to manage his portfolio effectively.”

Representatives of the MCA and DfT were also present at the meeting and during a frank discussion the Minister gave assurances of his intent to carry out an indepth analysis of the closure programme, specifically the effects that the closure of stations has had so far. “Mr Hayes made it perfectly clear that he wanted all of the facts not fl annel from the MCA and DfT and we are pleased that he has underlined this” said Mr O’Connor. “We made it clear to the Minister that we feel strongly that neither the MCA or DfT could be relied upon to present balanced information to him and asked that information gathering be carried out independently of those organisations to ensure that he can take a balanced view of the process.

This would include receiving submissions from all stakeholders.” “It was evident that Mr Hayes appreciates that people have genuine concerns about the closure programme which need to be addressed. As with the campaign group, coastal safety is also his priority and he intends to ensure that the management of the closure programme is being conducted in an appropriate way which does not affect or undermine safety in any way.”

Concerns about the way the closure programme is being handled have increased since a recent freedom of information request revealed that the understaffing at stations across the UK has increased dramatically. Aberdeen Coastguard reached a peak of 97% understaffing during this year and Dover 92% other stations at Humber reached 83% and Swansea were up to 80% understaffed.

In September the MCA’s centralised centre at Fareham opened despite almost half of the staff being recent recruits with no search and rescue coordination experience. The continuing loss of experienced Coastguard offi cers has taken its toll on the service. During the meeting with the Minister, Keith Oliver, the MCA’s Head of Maritime Operations claimed that ‘there are no inexperienced officers at the Fareham centre and understaffing is not an issue because “a higher calibre of staff had now been recruited to replace those who have left the service’.

Campaigners insist that the statement by Mr Oliver is an obvious example of how the MCA are prepared to dismiss the value of its officers and the concerns of the wider public: Quite how the MCA can defend the loss of experienced Coastguards by stating that their replacements, despite having no SAR experience, are “experienced” and of a “higher calibre” is beyond comprehension” said Mr O’Connor.

“The new recruits just do not have the training, skills or service experience of those who have left therefore it is shameful for the MCA to make this statement when clearly the facts confl ict sharply with statements being made by the MCA about safety being their priority. You cannot replace years of experience overnight and it seems to suggest an element of ensuring that new staff, irrespective of their lack of experience, are being favoured because of their compliance within the future Coastguard set-up.

The statement by Mr Oliver also underlines concerns that this is not a transparent process. We welcome the decision by the Minister to take a fresh look at the closure programme. This will offer some reassurance that concerns are being addressed and it will force the MCA and DfT to fi nally admit that there have been failings in the way the process has been handled. The MCA has failed to offer any evidence to suggest that the process is safe or workable and without compelling evidence they should never have been allowed to proceed. We hope that the Minister will concur with previous concerns raised by the Transport Select Committee and fi nally emergency measures will be taken to ensure that the service is stabilised.”