Some news about Culdrose and Cornwall's search and rescue provision

It seems the UK government has given a reprieve to the UK Search and Rescue service, the privatisation has been halted and the Coastguard/ Royal Air Force/ Royal Navy will continue running the service for the meantime.

As anybody that lives in Cornwall will know the grey and red markings of the Royal Navy's search and rescue Sea Kings is an ubiquitous sight around the Duchy. 771 squadron stand ready 24 hours a day to rescue people at distress on the high seas off the Cornish coast and at times 200+ miles away, they also have rescued people in trouble on cliffs and aided the Cornish Air Ambulance when otherwise engaged. The helicopters are particularly important for the people on the Isles of Scilly as in an emergency it is the quickest way of getting a serious casualty or woman in labour from Scilly to Treliske hospital (the air ambulance lacks the range and night time capability for the Isles of Scilly). My point is that the helicopters are a vital service for the whole of Cornwall and Scilly, whether it be fishermen or tourists. The bravery, tenacity and importance of the helicopter crews from RNAS Culdrose is without question.

A joint RNLI/ Royal Navy display in Penzance (Penlee lifeboat)

It was the plan of the Labour government to privatise all of the search and rescue capability, however this plan went awry when the preferred bidder Soteria had access to sensitive information about the bid leaked from the MOD. Ever since coastal communities have been in limbo waiting for the government to announce the future of the vital emergency service. Showing all the leadership and foresight of the Coastguard Station and the Emergency Tug fiascoes (for background see Save our Coastguard Station, Coastguard Emergency Towing Vessels No Risk Assessment) Philip Hammond Transport Secretary has dithered and dallied and now taken the step of announcing that the current providers will continue to run the service! Probably the first and last time that the status quo will be the focus of one of my blogs. This is a far from acceptable situation, coastal communities in Cornwall and beyond need assurances to the future of this service, not open mouthed head scratching. We all know that this coalition is good at saving money and slashing services, but it's about time they realised that running a government is about providing services and leadership too.