CUTS LED TO DROWNINGS
No cash to guard our beaches as 12 die in a week
MORE lives will be lost on Britain’s shores this year because cuts have left the coastguard service at breaking point, experts have warned.
They spoke out after 12 people died in beach tragedies in the past 10 days.
The mass closure of coastguard stations has left the emergency service chronically undermanned, insiders said, one adding: “It makes Keystone Cops and Dad’s Army look like a well-oiled machine.”
MP Gordon Marsden has also blamed local government cuts for the lack of lifeguards on beaches.
The death toll, including five young men in one incident at Camber Sands in East Sussex, has left the Government facing demands to increase the Maritime and Coastguard Agency’s rescue capabilities. Under
the Coalition, nine of the country’s 19 coastguard stations were axed, including Swansea and Thames which closed last year. The remaining 10 now operate alongside the central National Maritime Operations Centre, in Fareham, Hampshire, which opened in September 2014.
Although many lifeguards are volunteers, the coastguard is in charge of co-ordinating all rescue operations, including lifeboats and lifeguards.
But serving rescue officers and lifeboat crew members complain that lives are being unnecessarily put at risk because the service has become dangerously over-stretched.
Dennis O’Connor, national co-ordinator for the campaign group Coastguard SOS, said the closures have led to understaffing and safety risks.
He says that vital local knowledge, such as the locations of sandbars and likely rip tides, has been lost by centralising the operation.
He also called for the MCA to do more to educate holidaymakers on the dangers of the sea.
He said: “We are concerned at reports of staff shortages in coordination centres including the National Maritime Operations Centre. Understaffing is something that we repeatedly highlighted as a concern.
“The MCA has failed to address the problem effectively and it is our fear that more lives will be lost as a result.”
The former rescue officer from Pembrokshire has written to Louise Ellman, chairwoman of the Transport Select Committee, to raise his concerns.
He said: “I hope that she will seek to ensure any deficiencies are corrected as an urgent priority
“Sadly this summer has seen a terrible number of fatalities and incidents around the UK coast. The MCA are not taking the lead in educating beachgoers of the dangers that are ever present and this needs to be urgently addressed.”
Blackpool South MP Gordon Marsden said cuts to the coastguard had been made worse by cuts to local funding.
He added that the drownings were a wake- up call for the Government.
The Labour MP, who is also president of British Destinations, which promotes British holidays, said: “This terrible string of tragedies at the coast this last month at Camber Sands and elsewhere should shine a light on the double challenge to the new Government.
“It must be making sure that the MCA genuinely has enough capacity and trained staff to respond to emergencies but also looking at providing increased help and funding to coastal councils whose ability to provide adequate lifeguard beach and coast patrols have been hit by severe local government funding cuts to places like Blackpool.”
One insider said that in some areas the number of coastguards on duty has been cut by as much as a third.
The service is struggling with ongoing recruitment issues following the departure of experienced officers in the wake of the cuts.
It is also claimed that the IT system that enables the coastguard to co-ordinate rescue operations is frequently down. There is sometimes confusion over who is overseeing often life-threatening incidents as they unfold.
“It’s totally farcical,” one insider said. “The new system has been down numerous times. There’s always vacancies within our sector. Some rescue officers have very basic skill sets. They have struggled to get enough active members for big jobs and have to rely on the RNLI and other local independent rescue services.” The Camber Sands deaths follow a deadly week. A father and his two-year-old daughter drowned in Cornwall last weekend, along with a windsurfer off Essex and a swimmer off Sandbanks in Dorset.
The same weekend a six-year-old boy and his mother died off Aberdeen beach and a woman died in treacherous seas off Jersey.
A spokeswoman for the MCA said: “The volunteer coastguard rescue officers are on call 24-hours a day, seven days a week, and, as recent events show, they are always ready to respond with our partners to search and rescue incidents.
“They live in the communities they serve and care about them, often putting their own lives on hold while they answer another emergency call. When you make a 999 call and ask for the Coastguard, you’re instantly put through to one of our operations centres where our officers are ready to take your call and actively manage the resources required to help you.
“Incidents can be handled by any officer anywhere in our integrated network of operations centres.”
THE DEATH of 12 people in the past 10 days, including five men in Camber Sands, is a sobering reminder of the dangers posed by Britain’s beautiful coastline.
Despite our unpredictable climate, we boast some of the best beaches in the world, attracting millions of visitors every year.
Yet recent tragic events suggest that our shores are not as safe as they used be.
Cuts to the coastguard, once considered the fourth emergency service, have resulted in it being chronically underfunded and under-staffed.
This is unacceptable in 21st century Britain, not least when “staycationing” is at an all-time high and set to become even more popular post-Brexit.
Two years ago, this newspaper warned that this “seaside scandal” would cost lives.
Today, we call on the Government to take action. Having already raised concerns about the lack of lifeguards along the coast, many will be horrified to learn that nine of the country’s 19 coastguard stations have been axed.
Of the remaining 10, volunteer shortages and failures in the IT system have left the service dangerously over-stretched.
We not only need more lifeguards but more members of the public willing to be on the lookout along our coasts to spot possible emergencies.
The UK has the 12th longest coastline in the world, spanning more than 11,000 miles, and yet we are woefully behind other countries when it comes to keeping our beaches safe.
A sea change is urgently needed.