Joyce receives coastguard petition – 20,000 call for risk assessment

Campaigners fighting plans to close Milford Haven and Holyhead coastguard stations, and downgrade Swansea to a daylight service, today presented a 20,000 name petition to Assembly Member Joyce Watson at the National Assembly for Wales.
The petition calls on the National Assembly for Wales to urge the Welsh Government to conduct an independent risk impact assessment of the proposals.
The Save Milford Haven Campaign Group, who handed over the petition on the steps of the Senedd in Cardiff Bay on Wednesday (6 July), said it was concerned for the safety of coastal tourists.
The Welsh Government has criticised the plans that would leave Wales with just one part-time coastguard station.
The UK government is currently reviewing plans to close more than half of the UK’s coastguard centres, and cut the number of 24-hour rescue stations from 18 to three.
Opponents of the plans have criticised the UK government for publishing the original risk assessment two months after the consultation began, and last month, a Commons Transport Committee inquiry raised safety concerns about the proposals and recommended that they be scrapped. The Committee also questioned the decision of the UK Transport Minister Mike Penning who instructed ‘regular’ coastguards to decline the invitation to give evidence to the committee.