Swansea coastguard: 11 jobs losses as station closes

When closure plans were announced, protests were held to try to save the Swansea station

Swansea's coastguard station will close on 6 March with the loss of 11 jobs.

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) said staff would now form part of the new HM Coastguard National Network.

They will join operations in Milford Haven and the MCA claims this will allow coastguards to manage workload on a national basis.

Two workers from Swansea will transfer to Milford Haven, five will move to the Coastguard Rescue Service and 11 will take voluntary redundancy.

MCA said under the new way of working, coastguards would not have boundaries and would be moved wherever there is demand.

The Milford Haven-based crew will primarily cover from Marsland Mouth on the north Devon/Cornwall border to Friog in Gwynedd.

The closure comes four years after the UK government announced that Swansea would be one of nine stations around the UK to shut.

Campaigners had claimed the closure would put lives at risk off the Swansea and Gower coastlines and in the Bristol Channel.

A 110,000-signature petition failed to halt its closure, but Holyhead and Milford Haven stations, which were also under threat, were reprieved.