The Petition of readers of the Falmouth Packet newspaper, and others,
Declares that the petitioners believe that Falmouth Coastguard must be retained as a 24 hour a day operation, because the experience and expertise of the Falmouth Coastguard could not safely be transferred elsewhere.
The Petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urges the Secretary of State for Transport to require the Maritime and Coastguard Agency to take into account the views of residents of Falmouth in the course of its consultation on the future of the Coastguard.
And the Petitioners remain, etc.—[Presented by Sarah Newton, Official Report, 28 April 2011; Vol. 527, c. 418.]
[P000919]
Observations from the Secretary of State for Transport:
The Government are aware of the strength of feeling about the proposals to migrate Falmouth maritime rescue co-ordination (MRCC) to a daytime only sub-centre within a national network of a small number of maritime operations centres supported by sub-centres.
The Government are proud of Her Majesty’s coastguard and value the work currently carried out by operational coastguards at Falmouth. Under the proposed new arrangements, all the systems operated at Falmouth would be networked across the UK so that any search and rescue incident can be co-ordinated from any location.
An independent team of 12 experienced coastguard practitioners is reviewing all responses to the consultation launched on 16 December 2010 and will take account of this petition in their deliberations. Once the Government have considered the advice of the independent review team and the Transport Select Committee’s report, the way forward will be announced.