Coastguard station closure protest wins council backing

Concerns have been expressed that shutting the 100-year-old station on Flamborough Head and transferring the service to Bridlington will compromise response times.

Yesterday East Riding councillors supported a motion by Bridlington councillor Richard Harrap calling upon the Maritime and Coastguard Agency to reconsider their decision.

A letter will now be sent to the agency.

More than 1000 people have already joined a Facebook campaign against the closure of the station in Lighthouse Road, Flamborough. Schoolchildren at the village primary school have also written to protest.

Coun Harrap said: "Bridlington station is five or six miles away and that road particularly in the summer, with holiday traffic, caravans and goodness knows what else it isn't very fast.

"The whole community is very concerned about it. Flamborough is a community and that's why I think more time should have been given to see if there are any other ways of resolving the issue."

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency says it took the decision after a recent inspection by the fire service. It found the station's top two floors lacked a fire escape, but volunteers question why the building, which has been in use since 1950, has been considered suitable until now.

Equipment to be moved to Bridlington includes defibrillation units used when the coastguards act as first responders.

Although only two of the volunteers live in Flamborough village itself, they often turn up first.

However the agency says it won't make any difference to response times as they have to wait for those coming from Bridlington to arrive.

A spokesman said: "We have looked at the recommendations from the fire and rescue service. If we ignored them and something happened where would we be?"

The spokesman said around 25,000 was needed to renovate the building and insisted the decision had nothing to do with cost-cutting. He said: "Obviously we have to look at this and ensure that the taxpayer is getting the best value for money.

The team of seven will merge with the auxiliaries at Bridlington.