Plaid Cymru AM Chris Franks says that he is not satisfied lives will not be put at risk by proposals to close two key Welsh coastguard stations.
The South Wales Central AM wrote to Mike Penning, Under Secretary of State in the UK Department of Transport, because of the concerns over the possible closure of Milford Haven and the Holyhead stations.
Chris Franks said: “These proposed cuts will affect the Coastguard’s ability to protect and save lives as local knowledge of the coast will be lost by moving to centralised coastguard hubs. These proposals are also likely to result in compulsory redundancies for skilled and specialised jobs when they are closed down.
“It does appear that these proposals are being rushed through with no thought on the local area that these potential cuts will affect,” said Chris Franks.
The Plaid AM added: “Mike Penning claims these changes will lead to a more efficient and effective service and he doesn’t believe these proposals increase the risk to the mariner or coastal user. Frankly, I don’t believe him. The Minister is just hoping that things work out and that is not good enough.
“Although the minister says that no final decisions have been made, I believe this is a fait accompli. It will be bad for Wales and bad for the UK as a whole.”
In his letter to Chris Franks, Mike Penning said: “I do not believe that these proposals increase the risk to the mariner or coastal user. The current structure of 18 Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centres (MRCCs) is not nationally integrated, and the service lacks resilience. Currently, there is limited capacity to easily redistribute work from one centre to another. By utilising our current technology and introducing a national network, we would be able to work more efficiently and effectively.”
