It has now been eight months since the Department for Transport first proposed changes to the Coastguard Service.
The argument put forward was that properly integrating the 18 Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centres (MRCCs) around our coastline would be too expensive.
Regrettably, one of the victims of this review is the Portland MRCC, which it’s believed will shut after the Olympics.
So, instead of having our own, local coastguard to watch over South Dorset’s crowded waters, we are to rely upon a maritime operations centre (MOC) at either Southampton or Portsmouth.
We have fought tooth and nail against this proposal.
Many of you participated in the consultation process, expressing your concerns, not least at the reduction in cover around our coastline, the loss of local knowledge and, of course, the redundancies.
What worries me most, though, is the loss of our local co-ordinator.
Our watch-keepers know the area intimately, their knowledge allowing them to task the relevant resource quickly and efficiently.
I fear watch-keepers at the Solent MOC will be swamped by minutiae, especially if there are several incidents running concurrently, which is most likely.
And, remember, that single MOC, supported by nine sub-centres - and Dover in an emergency - will serve the entire United Kingdom
Portland and Weymouth will retain their lifeboat, coastal rescue teams and SAR helicopter and many of us have been fighting to locate the new super-centre in Weymouth, rather than Solent.
We shall shortly be handing a petition to this effect, with 15,000 signatories, to the minister, Mike Penning.
The minister has said this is unlikely, but we can’t give up.
Let’s hope that like the disastrous attempt to restructure the Fire and Rescue Service, this idea gets scrapped.