News / Alan Massey visit to Shetland
THE COUNTRY’S chief coastguard Sir Alan Massey was quizzed by staff from the closure threatened Lerwick Coastguard station for two and half hours on Friday morning.
Prior to the staff meeting he met around 60 protesters who had gathered outside the station at The Knab to voice their opposition to plans that might either lead to the closure of the station or its downgrading to a daytime only operation.
Sir Alan’s visit to Shetland is part of his commitment to visit all coastguard stations in the country during a consultation period that may lead to a complete overhaul of the coastguard service and the closure of 10 of the UK’s 18 stations.
Under the proposals, Aberdeen would become the only full time coastguard station in Scotland.
Islanders are up in arms and argue that lives would be put at risk due to the unreliability of communications links with the UK mainland and the loss of valuable local knowledge should the station in Lerwick close.
Speaking after the meeting with 20+ staff, Sir Alan said that that he fully understood the concern of islanders and that he had asked the local staff to engage with the consultation process by putting forward their views to modernise the service.
He insisted that the status quo was not an option and that there was no alternative but to change the way the service is delivered.
“What we need to do now is properly evaluate what people are saying to us.
“We have encouraged the team here in Lerwick today to put forward their views on how we should bring this forward; and ideally constructive proposals that meet their worries and also deliver some of the benefits we are looking for.
“We have got to move forward with the coastguard service.
“It is not just about money; I can be absolutely certain about that, and I can assure people that I would not be doing anything that would jeopardise safety or put the lives of mariners at sea more at risk than they are already.
“I have that sort of background and that understanding,” the chief executive said.
Representing the PCS union, watch officer at the station Alex Dodge said they had had a robust and lively meeting.
“It was a full and professional debate. We raised several concerns about local knowledge, communication resilience and staffing issues amongst others.
“They certainly listened, but whether they heard what we were saying, I don’t know,” she said.
Earlier on Friday morning Sir Alan met protesters outside the station.
The chief coastguard was left in no doubt as to what campaigners thought of the plans with several of those present using the opportunity to address him directly.
They raised concerns over regular communication outages, the valuable local knowledge held by watch officers that could be lost, and the changing picture of sea traffic around the coast with larger vessels, more oil and gas exploration as well as renewable energy developments.
The chief executive replied: “The proposals we are putting forward are not set in concrete in any sense at all. We are listening to what people say, we are evaluating all the responses, and we are trying to come up with an answer that is best suited to the coastguards as professionals, but more to the point, for the public as users of the sea.
“I am very conscious that we don’t know everything, and it is extremely helpful to meet and to interact with people like yourselves. Thank you for what you are saying, thank you for what you are doing, I very much respect that you are out here today.”
Organiser of the Save our Station campaign, Lee Coutts, said afterwards: “This coastguard station is an integral part of the community.
“It is also important to keep it open because we have regular communication problems with the mainland.
“If there is a breakdown in communication as there has been in the past then we will left be blind, and there will be nobody watching the seas around Orkney and Shetland. That is a big issue. It is fundamental that there is cover, it really is important.”
Sir Alan arrived in the isles on Thursday afternoon after meeting coastguard staff in Aberdeen earlier in the day. On Thursday evening he met with Coastguard volunteers as well as Orkney and Shetland MP Alistair Carmichael and local MSP Tavish Scott.
The MCA will host public meetings in Orkney and Shetland at the end of the month to gauge public opinion on its proposals. The consultation period ends on 24 March.
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