A NEW permanent coastguard station has been opened on Minehead Promenade, the National Coastwatch Institution (NCI) announced on Saturday.

A spokesperson for NCI said: "The NCI is pleased to announce the opening of its new station on Minehead promenade. This has been eagerly awaited by His Majesty’s Coast Guard, the RNLI and other Search and Rescue (SARs) organisations.

"Planning and development has taken over 12 months but we are finally there. The new station opened on Saturday with the trained watchkeepers maintaining a visual and listening watch throughout the day."

The station will be manned by National Coastwatch volunteer watchkeepers, who will maintain a daily visual and radio watch of the coast, looking out for anyone in potential danger.

Any coastal safety-related incidents are reported to His Majesty's Coastguard so that expert help can be sent, including the Coastguard Rescue Teams and helicopters, the RNLI, independent lifeboats and all emergency services.

Simon Booth, the new Acting Station Manager at Minehead, said: “It is really great news that we finally have our permanent station.

"We have been managing for the last six months operating from an information caravan, whilst it worked it was not the best scenario for watchkeepers.

"We had to close for four weeks whilst the new station was installed and made operational. There are still a few things to be done. Our access ramp will hopefully be installed this week allowing for wheelchair users to access the building as a visitor or indeed as a volunteer watchkeeper.

"We will initially open on Friday through to Sunday with the odd session through the week allocated for training. We currently have 20 qualified watchkeepers and 10 trainee’s on our books."

He added: "In order to operate 24/7 we need a complement of 70 trained watchkeepers and we are looking to build up to this number over the next 18 months.

"If you are interested in volunteering and becoming a watchkeeper, assistant or fundraiser please do not hesitate to get in touch through www.nci.org.uk.

"You don’t have to have had an involvement with the sea or any previous knowledge, we will fully train you in all aspects of being a watchkeeper, training you at your own pace."

The NCI said the need for a lookout at Minehead was "urgent" as there had been "several incidents" already this summer, including a woman stuck in the mud at Blue Anchor, and heart attacks on Minehead beach.

The NCI started in 1994 at Bass Point in Cornwall. Following the closure of the last manned HMCG station due to government cutbacks at Bass Point in 1994, there was a tragic incident in which two local fishermen lost their lives at sea in the area.

Locals got together and reopened the station on a voluntary basis and so the NCI was started. They now have 60 stations along the coast of England and Wales and over 2600 volunteers.