Stornoway and Shetland coastguards to remain open, but Forth and Clyde will close

The Government is right to abandon its plans to slash such a high number of coastguard stations, Labour said today as Transport Secretary Philip Hammond announced there would be 11 round-the-clock centres covering the UK.

But shadow transport secretary Maria Eagle said ministers were still putting their desire to cut costs ahead of the safety of maritime communities, in what she described as a "devastating blow" for many coastguards.

The comments came after Mr Hammond announced station at Stornoway, Shetland and Aberdeen would remain open, but Clyde and Forth would both close.

He told the Commons there would be one operations centre in the Southampton and Portsmouth area, as well as eight sub-stations, operated 24 hours a day, at Falmouth, Milford Haven, Holyhead, Belfast, Stornoway, Shetland, Aberdeen and Humber.

The centres that will be closed - over the period from 2012 to 2014/15 - are at Swansea, Portland in Devon, Clyde and Forth in Scotland, Liverpool, Great Yarmouth, Brixham in Devon, and Walton on the Naze in Essex.

Mr Hammond said it was still possible to achieve the cost savings envisaged under the Government's original plans to operate only three stations round the clock, as well as five sub-centres during daylight hours.

There would still be job losses, he said, with the number of uniformed coastguards falling from 573 to 436 by 2014/15.

Rural Affairs Secretary Richard Lochhead said: "I am pleased that common sense has prevailed and the Secretary of State has listened to our views as expressed in the consultation and reconsidered these closures.

"I congratulate the community-led campaigns in Shetland and Stornoway whose powerful arguments led to this change of heart.

"However, I am disappointed to hear plans to close Forth and Clyde stations remain, given the importance of our maritime industry, and will be closely examining these proposals and responding to the new consultation in due course."

Western Isles SNP MSP Alasdair Allan said: "Above all it is a victory for common sense and for those who recognise that safety at sea is much more important than financial savings.

Orkney and Shetland Liberal Democrat MP Alistair Carmichael said: "Everyone in government from the prime minister downwards made explicit from the very start of the consultation process that ministers would listen to the concerns that people had over the MCA's original proposals.

Ministers had already consulted with Coastguards across the country and the proposals announced today reflected that "very useful input", he said.

Liberal Democrat former leader Sir Menzies Campbell hit out at plans to scrap the station at Forth.

"The proposed closure of Forth in my constituency will be received with profound disappointment, not least because of the unsatisfactory nature of the public meeting held by the agency in February in Anstruther," he said.

Sir Menzies said that Aberdeen, which will be kept, was the most expensive station in the UK while Forth had the lowest running costs.

"Forth is a station offering value for money and increasingly busy because of the increase in leisure and commercial traffic - why on earth should it be a candidate for closure?"

Mr Hammond said it was inevitable such questions would be asked by disappointed MPs and he promised to explain the reasons taken on Forth to Sir Menzies.

"There was a multi-criteria approach into looking at the decision around which station in each pair should be retained," he said.

In a statement, the Save Shetland Coastguard campaign group said: "We are pleased the Government has bowed to pressure from the campaign and look forward to taking an active role in modernising the coastguard service for the future. However, we will need to study any new proposal in detail.

"We remain opposed to any compulsory redundancies and to any proposals that will jeopardise public safety. We are also very aware that whilst we may have survived, some of our colleagues have been given bad news today and we will offer them our support in their continuing fight."

West of Scotland SNP MSP Stuart McMillan criticised the decision to close the Clyde station. He said: "The UK Government's determination to close Clyde is all about money and nothing to do with safety. The Clyde is an increasingly busy waterway with ferries, shipping, naval waterways, nuclear submarines, industry and tourist boats all using the waters.

"The Tall Ships event last weekend shows how much potential there is in the Clyde and the decision to close the coastguard risks the safety of those waters."

Conservative MSP Jackson Carlaw said the revised proposals will secure the future of the service in Scotland.

He said: "There has been an extensive and genuine consultation. All parties in the Scottish Parliament were united in expressing their concern that reducing stations, particularly in Scotland would be dangerous.

"All of us will therefore congratulate a UK Government which has listened and responded to those concerns."