Although we shall be losing the Coastguard station at Lee on Solent, the new National Marine Operations Centre to be based at Segensworth, near Fareham will offer fully modern facilities with the Solent area as one of its primary functions. Work has already started on installing, testing and commissioning the new systems on which modern … Continue reading Coastguard NMOC starts to take shape

The BBC H2O show has raised the profile of the Coastguard reorganisation debate. There is a BBC article that summarises the position . At Solent Protection Society, we have been concerned about the impact of these changes on Solent users. We went to see Peter Dymond, Chief Coastguard, and an account of that discussion led … Continue reading Changes in Solent Coastguard become clearer

Richard Drax, the Dorset MP, continues to argue against the Coastguard 'cuts', as reported in a BBC article. We remain concerned about this too, but when we talked to Coastguard, they made a number of points which ought to be taken into account While the control centres are being closed, these have not had visual … Continue reading Coastguard debate continues

Coastwatch – keeping us safe on the water Coastwatch is a voluntary organisation that seeks  to provide visual coverage of activity on the water to identify accidents and dangerous situations. . There are now 49 manned stations along the UK coast, and the number is growing. Four stations are in the Solent at the Needles, … Continue reading National Coastwatch

Marine Activities The situation is that there were 18 Marine Rescue Coordination Centres (MRCC) (already reduced to 15), grouped into pairs. (Lee on Solent and Portland are a pair) This is so that resources can be shared. If any one of the coordination centres becomes overloaded or possibly even goes out of action (possibly because … Continue reading Marine activities of the Coastguard

Coastal Activities There will be no downsizing of the 356 Coastguard Rescue Teams around the UK coast as a result of the current reorganisation programme.  In the Solent the teams based at Hillhead, Selsey, Hayling, Portsmouth, Lymington, Southampton, Bembridge Newport, Ventnor, Ryde and Needles will continue to provide the same coastal search, rope, mud and shallow … Continue reading Coastal activities of the Coastguard