A new Maritime Operations Centre due to be opened in Titchfield Common is shrouded in confusion about roles and responsibilities, MPs said today (December 11).
The Transport Select Committee said there was confusion about the role and responsibility of staff who will be based at Kites Croft when the centre opens in April 2014.
A report published today by the committee criticised the “worrying lack of information” surrounding the Maritime Operations Centre (MOC), which will replace a national network of 18 coastguard stations.
When operational it is planned that emergency calls will be handled by the MOC in partnership with eight coastguard stations and a back-up centre in Dover.
Transport Select Committee chairwoman Louise Ellman said: “There is a worrying lack of information about what coastguards at the MOC will actually do from day to day or how these new staff will work with local coastguards.”
It is unclear whether the MOC will take control of major incidents and “sideline” the other stations, or whether it will monitor their work, “adding little or nothing”, the MPs said.
The committee’s report also points to low morale in the coastguard service since the reforms were announced, and an exodus of experienced staff unwilling to move to Hampshire to work at the MOC.
In their report the MPs say: “In our view, the loss of experienced coastguards is one of the most significant risks to the successful implementation of the Government’s reform programme.
“Years of uncertainty about the shape of the service, station closures and low morale have acted in combination to drain talent from the service.
“Finding experienced staff willing to transfer to the new MOC in Fareham may prove particularly difficult.”
The MOC will be based in the building that was originally due to be a regional fire control centre. That plan was scrapped in 2010 and the building, which was costing a fortune in rent, was eventually earmarked for use as an MOC.
It is now being fitted out in readiness for its go-live in 16 months.
Government ministers have said the new model will be more efficient and they deny the aim is to cut costs.
But critics have raised concerns about the loss of local knowledge when emergency call-outs are received.