Lifeboat row still going on

Jul 16 2009 by Our Correspondent, North Wales Weekly News

IN reply to last week’s letter from V.J.C.Wright regarding a lifeboat house at the Llandudno Sailing Club.

Mr Wright is quite wrong. A full public inquiry into the proposed boat house by the pier was held by a Welsh Office Inspector, by submission, in 1999.

This is a matter of public record.

As for space for a boathouse at the Sailing Club site, my suggestions for a combined facility obviously is not welcome. So be it.

The road that runs alongside the Sailing Club, that is not part of the club’s premises, is 33ft wide. The existing lifeboat house, in Lloyd street, is 27ft wide. This accommodates the present boat which is 12ft wide. The next generation boat will be 15ft wide. The extra width could be accommodated by the much thinner walls of modern steel frame construction. There is plenty of space lengthwise for the new boat which will be nearly 7ft longer and with room for the ancillaries facilities required.

As for launching in poor weather, that’s what lifeboats do! We are fortunate that we are largely protected from the easterly and westerly winds by the Ormes. Rhyl lifeboat, the same type as ours, has to launch on a very much more exposed beach and has no problems.

As for crossing the road, simple. Traffic lights, activated by the crew, and the boat would be over in no more than ten seconds.

As for cost, a professional in the business of civil engineering told me that the original estimate for building was an underestimate. Bearing in mind that inflation in Civil Engineering has been running at 20% per annum, £4 million is conservative at this moment.

Nobody should hold their breathe waiting for this new lifeboat to arrive. The earliest delivery will not be before 2015, assuming that prototype actually performs safely.

Just one more thought. The Lily Wainwright lifeboat, much loved, and which was here for about 30yrs cost about £34,000. The Lily was the last real lifeboat. The new boat, when it arrives will cost over £1 million.

John Lawson-Reay,

Llandudno