UK Coastguard modernisation plans
The wait is over: Plans for the modernisation of HM Coastguard have been announced.
Long awaited plans to modernise the UK's HM Coastguard have been announced by Shipping Minister Mike Penning.
The plans include one Maritime Operations Centre to be based in Fareham, Hampshire, with a back-up facility at the existing Dover Coordination centre, both operating on a 24 hour basis. There will also be eight 24 hour Coastguard hubs, all operated on a 24 hour basis and located at Falmouth, Milford Haven, Holyhead, Belfast, Stornaway, Shetland, Aberdeen and Humber. The station at London is also retained.
This will create a nationally networked system of Coastguard centres and will modernise how rescues are coordinated.
Under the plans, the Coastguard rescue centres at Forth, Clyde, Great Yarmouth, Liverpool, Thames, Swansea, Brixham and Portland will close progressively by 31 March 2015. The centre at Solent will be replaced by the new Maritime Operations Centre. New coastal operational hubs, providing training and support for the volunteers of the Coastguard Rescue Service, will be established at the existing sites at Liverpool, Swansea and Thames, as well as the Clyde area, and through further development of the MCA's site at the former HMS Daedalus at Lee-on-Solent..
The plans announced last month were released for consultation back in July, and according to the Department for Transport, aim to make the Coastguard better coordinated and more resilient to the challenges of the future with increased numbers of regular officers working in coastal communities.
Coastguard rescue coordination has changed little over thepast 40 years. Operations are currently coordinated from 19 dispersed centres without a network of national integration. The Government says this leaves little resilience in the event of high demand or technical problems and makes it impossible to spread the workload evenly across the system. The new plan promises a resilient and nationally networked system of Coastguard coordination centres.
Mike Penning, Shipping Minister, said: “After many years of uncertainty, these reforms provide a clear plan for the future of Her Majesty’s Coastguard".
He added: “The UK Coastguard has a great heritage. This is a blueprint for a 21st century Coastguard that commands even greater respect and it will provide an organisation of which coastguards themselves and all of us can be justly proud”.
The blueprint for the future of HM Coastguard is available from the MCA
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