Arbroath Community Council has demanded a meeting with the head of the RNLI in Scotland over the crisis engulfing the town station.
In a stinging letter, they say the town’s loyalty to the lifesaving charity is being “tested to the limit” by the row over the decision to downgrade Arbroath.
The body wrote to RNLI head of region Jill Hepburn after failing to receive a response to a letter to Poole-based charity chief executive Mark Dowie.
On Monday, Ms Hepburn and a senior Scottish colleague were in Arbroath to dismiss local lifeboat operations manager Alex Smith.
His 22-year volunteering involvement with the RNLI locally was ended with immediate effect.
Ms Hepburn said there had been an irreconcilable “breakdown of trust” between Mr Smith and the organisation.
Community council’s anger
The community council letter was sent to the Scottish figurehead before this week’s dramatic turn of events.
The body is unhappy previous correspondence to the RNLI has gone unanswered.
However, the community council received a copy of a reply sent by Mr Dowie to MSP Maggie Chapman, one of a number of politicians who have raised the Arbroath issue.
In the latest letter to Ms Hepburn, community council secretary Arthur Grant challenged Mr Dowie’s view there has been ‘correct’ engagement by the RNLI with the local community.
“I have to say our experience is entirely the opposite,” Mr Grant wrote.
“We have received no replies at all to our letters.
“This smacks of elitism: the RNLI will engage with those it perceives as the great and the good but will not reply to local people.”
‘Doubling down’
And the community council took issue with suggestions it is ‘unjust’ to describe the removal of all-weather capability as a downgrade.
The RNLI has repeatedly stressed its view lifesaving cover will be enhanced by the plan to base a high-speed Atlantic 85 RIB at Arbroath and all-weather Shannon-class lifeboat at Broughty Ferry.
“Far from being unjust, it is a simple statement of fact,” added Mr Grant.
“To say it is not a downgrade because the Atlantic is a more modern craft than the (current) Mersey strikes us as mere wordplay.
“The comparison should be with the Shannon that has been promised since 2014.
“To replace an all-weather boat with an inshore one is manifestly a downgrade in the commonly accepted sense of the word, and by doubling down on its denial of this point the RNLI seriously damages its credibility.
“This in turn makes any further arguments you may wish to make very hard for us to accept.
“You will never persuade us that this change is justified as long as you persist in pretending it is not a downgrade of the Arbroath station.”
He added: “We in Arbroath passionately support the RNLI but our loyalty is being tested to the limit, not only by the decision to downgrade our lifeboat station but also by the disrespectful way our community has been treated.”
“We earnestly request an early meeting with you in an effort to stop matters getting worse than they are,” he wrote to Ms Hepburn.
RNLI response
An RNLI spokesperson said: “The RNLI have received a letter from Arbroath’s Community Council.
“We are working through the points raised and will provide a direct response in due course.”
The charity previously snubbed an invitation from The Courier to explain the rationale behind the lifesaving review decision after it was revealed in late April.
It was offered a Webster Theatre platform to elaborate on the reasons for the reversal of the plan to station a Shannon at Arbroath.
That followed a packed public meeting at Arbroath’s Meadowbank Inn in the immediate aftermath of the review announcement.
