A NEW coastguard supercentre is ‘up for grabs’ with the support of councillors and the community.

As the Echo’s campaign to site a new coastguard supercentre in the borough gains pace, borough councillors are being urged to resubmit plans for places to locate the new base.

Back in February Weymouth and Portland Borough Council sent a letter to Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport Mike Penning suggesting that the area would be a prime location for the supercentre.

It highlighted the borough as a major centre for sailing and highlighted five areas within the area that could be used for the new supercentre.

These include Osprey Quay on Portland, Portland Port and Weymouth’s Mount Pleasant business park.

The Dorset Echo campaign has gone from strength to strength over the last week with hundreds of people signing the petition.

Speaking at Thursday’s full council meeting Councillor Dominic Lonsdale said that the location of the new supercentre was still undecided and that councillors had to grab the opportunity and resubmit the plan to the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.

He said: “The location of the supercentre is undecided, there’s an intention for it to be in Southampton or Portsmouth but it can be sited anywhere.

“I’m told by a senior member of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency to resubmit the plan to have it in Weymouth and Portland.

“The initial bid did impress – a lot of work was done by council officers.”

He added: “In order for the bid to succeed we must mobilise the support in the area. We need to provide an overwhelming case.

“It’s up for grabs and we can grab it.”

A spokesman for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency said that he could not comment on whether the borough council should resubmit plans or not.

He said: “The second consultation, which ends on October 6, is about the parts of this proposal that differ from the previous proposal that is already being consulted on.

“This is specifically the decision to retain Holyhead rather than Liverpool, the choice of Milford Haven rather than Swansea, the decision to retain stations at Shetland and Stornoway and the decision to operate a single maritime operations centre, rather than two.”

Readers can join the campaign via Facebook by searching for Portland Coastguard – Save Our Lifesavers or by following links from the Dorset Echo Facebook page.

The petition is available to download from the Dorset Echo website and readers can fill in the coupon below and send it in or drop it into the office at the Granby Industrial Estate in Weymouth or to our Dorchester office in Antelope Walk.

Readers can request a paper copy of the petition by calling Catherine Bolado on 01305 830985.