On 28th November 2011, the Government announced that it plans to scrap the coastguard helicopter based at Portland, Dorset.

Following the Tory-led Government's closure of Weymouth and Portland's Marine Coastguard Agency centre, search-and-rescue operations will end at Portland in 2017, as Britain's remaining search-and-rescue operators are privatised.

This will leave part of the Channel's busiest stretches and some of the most popular and perilous recreational waters in the UK without a search-and-rescue helicopter of its own. Instead, operations within these waters are expected be conducted by helicopters based at Fareham, in Hampshire, and Culdrose, in Cornwall.

These are changes that put lives at risk, say members of Dorset's marine industry. We want the Government to reverse its plans to scrap Portland's Coastguard Helicopter, and put people's lives before profit.

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