After six years of discussions, meetings , worry, sweat and tears, the sight of this going up was a huge step forward.
The Agency had reached agreement with the Town Council (land owner), allocated funding towards the project , finally it looked like we were going to get our new premises.
Having spent all this time on the project, one step forward and two back, I was not expecting a smooth ride, 99.5% of people were supportive of the Coastguard but perhaps not in North Beach Car Park......!
Lots of letters flew about in support of the plan, but there were quite a few opposing the idea, in fact the file stands at about 3 inches thick!
The main concerns included
The VHF aerial,
The Stream and risk of flooding to neighbouring properties,
The Public toliets that formed part of the plan and agreement with the council,
The noise we were going to make,
Its not in the right place,
Clearly we needed to explain a few things and started to tackle those concerns by having an open day and visiting local home owners.
We kindly got the support of a retired team member to act as our spokesperson and a mini campaign began to show why this project was so urgently needed.
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