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CLYDE Coastguard operations staff have arranged a meeting in Greenock Town Hall on today (Wednesday August 24) to strengthen support for their campaign to keep their coastguard station open.
The meeting is for invited guests, which will include councillors from each council, MPs and MSPs from their area of operations. They also hope to have a speaker from the PCS, STUC Unions.
The purpose of the meeting is to highlight the work that Clyde Coastguard does by showing a small presentation and to see if they can strengthen support to their cause before the consultation period ends on the 6th October 2011.
The Government announced updated plans for the service in July saying that these reflected initial consultation responses and propose creating a nationally networked system of Coastguard stations comprising: one Maritime Operations Centre in the Southampton/Portsmouth area with a back-up facility at the existing Dover site which will be retained as a 24 hour centre; and eight sub-centres, all operated on a 24 hour basis, located at Falmouth, Milford Haven, Holyhead, Belfast, Stornoway, Shetland, Aberdeen and Humber. The small station at London is also retained.
Under the revised proposals the Coastguard stations at Clyde, Forth, Portland, Liverpool, Yarmouth, Brixham, Thames and Swansea would close progressively over the period 2012 to 2014/15 while the station at Solent will be replaced by a new Maritime Operations Centre in the Portsmouth/Southampton area.
The new consultation (until 6th October) is for people to comment on those elements of the July announcement which differ from the original proposals.
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