PEOPLE power can bring a new coastguard supercentre to Weymouth and Portland.

That’s the message from supporters as the Echo’s Save Our Lifesavers campaign to convince the Maritime and Coastguard Agency and the Government to site a new supercentre for co-ordinating its rescue services in the borough gathers pace.

Under new consultation plans aimed at modernising the service, nine coastguard bases including those in Portland (based at Weymouth), Brixham and Solent would be closed by the end of 2015, and a new Maritime Operations Centre (MOC) would be established in the Southampton or Portsmouth area.

However, the location of the MOC is yet to be set in stone and the Echo has launched a campaign to bring the centre to the borough.

Public and Commercial Services Union local representative Sarah Callaby-Brown is a watch officer at Portland Coastguard.

Speaking as a union representative she said: “People power can most definitely make a difference.

“I’d urge people to think about what a positive thing the MOC could be for the town and how essential local knowledge is for us to do our jobs to the highest level, and get on board with the Echo campaign.”

South Dorset MP Richard Drax and West Dorset MP Oliver Letwin are backing the campaign.

Mr Drax said: “While I am disappointed and even angry that Portland Coastguard is to go I, the local authority and many others see a new opportunity to lobby the government to get the new so-called supercentre in Weymouth and Portland rather than Southampton or Portsmouth.

“The reason I think it’s a good idea is firstly because we are smack-bang in the middle of the south coast, secondly, because the local authority has a possible building in which the centre could be housed.

“Thirdly, it would preserve the professionalism and expertise that we have built up over the years and generations down here to keep people safe in and out of the water.”

The Mayor of Weymouth and Portland Graham Winter said that if enough people got together and signed the petition then the centre could come to the borough.

He said: “We should have proper coastguard cover, because of the fact that we have the Olympics and because we have the national sailing academy which is used by sailors from around the world all the time and will be after the Olympics, we don’t need a scaled-down coastguard presence.”

He added: “I think the campaign will put a marker down and hopefully the government will start looking at it in a positive fashion.

“People can make a difference and you have to try and make a difference.

“If people come together as a community and make enough noise change can happen, it doesn’t always, but it can.”

Many duties of the Weymouth office

PORTLAND Coastguard on Weymouth harbourside co-ordinates rescue operations from the Dorset and Hampshire border to Exmouth in Devon.

It covers the English half of the Channel and co-ordinates the coastguard search and rescue helicopter, RNLI lifeboats, and coastguard search and rescue teams across the area.

The coastguard centre doesn’t just organise water-based rescues – its many duties includes rescuing people stuck on coastal paths, rescuing dogs that have gone over cliffs and rescuing people and animals from mud.

Staff work closely with the other emergency services to help airlift casualties injured in remote locations and help search for missing people and those in a vulnerable state.