The RNLI is being lined up to take over the beach lifeguard service along Brighton and Hove seafront from next year.
The prospect emerged in a Brighton and Hove City Council report which is due to be discussed by councillors on Thursday (9 March).
If the RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution) takes on the service, it will start in the 2024 summer season, with the council planning a slimmed down service this year.
From May to September there will be just four beach lifeguard stations, with an extra three during the six-week school holidays.
The lifeguard service previously operated from 10 designated beaches during the school holidays and seven during the rest of the summer season from Saltdean to Hove Lagoon.
A report to the council’s Tourism, Equalities, Community and Culture Committee said that funding was cut by £100,000 at the annual “budget council” meeting last month.
A petition to try to stop the cut to the non-statutory service was signed by more than 3,300 people before the budget council meeting on Thursday 23 February.
Petition organiser Justine Stephens said at the time: “A lifeguard is viewed as ‘non-essential’ until you need a lifeguard to save a life. Then it’s vitally important.”
Lifeguards’ union rep Richard Woolven, from Unison, said that councillors making the cut risked having “blood on their hands”.
The report to the Tourism, Equalities, Community and Culture Committee said: “The core focus will remain on resourcing those beaches with the greatest number of visitors, hazards and incidents.
“This will assist with the transition to a longer-term more sustainable model to be developed during the year and introduced from 2024.”
A long-term lifeguard model is being designed to go before a future committee, with the RNLI running the service for the same cost as at present.
During the 2022 season, an estimated 750,000 people used the lifeguarded beaches, and 143,000 went in the water.
The lifeguard service
- helped reunite 171 missing people
- tackled 81 incidents of anti-social behaviour and abuse
- handled 11 mental health incidents
- responded to 92 major and non-life-threatening incidents
- saved 40 lives
…
The four beaches to be served by lifeguards all summer are east of the Palace Pier, west of the Palace Pier, opposite the bottom of West Street by the council’s seafront office and by the King Alfred in Hove.
Last year the beach at West Street had the most beach users, more than a quarter of the major and non-life-threatening incidents and nearly a quarter of the missing people.
During the six-week school summer holiday, three more beaches will have lifeguards – Saltdean, the West Pier to the bandstand and the Hove Lawns beaches. These beaches have been assessed as medium to high-risk beaches by the RNLI.
Beaches without lifeguards will have signs advising visitors about hazards and the distance to the nearest beach with lifeguards.
Warning signs will also be placed on each groyne, warning of the risk of jumping or diving into the water.
The council’s Tourism, Equalities, Communities and Culture Committee is due to meet at Hove Town Hall at 4pm next Thursday (9 March). The meeting is scheduled to be webcast on the council’s website.
We ve been useing the main brighton beach for years.the boys and girls r at the seafront office all year round,they do a brilliant job.the boys and girls that do life guarding on different beaches including saltdean main beach on selected wks. I’ve seen the lifeguards in action,they save peoples lives, they do beach patrols by foot.they advice people to stop jumping off the groins,do water patrols.help reunite people,do regular pa announcements including tide times,lost property,suncream,shade advice.we need these boys and girls on as many beaches a possible.they do a brilliant job .they are approachable.