Fear over Met Office closure plan

The office provides information to the oil and fishing industries

Concerns have been raised about proposals to close the Met Office's weather centre in Aberdeen.

The Met Office said quality would not be affected if it decided to close the office in Bridge of Don and move operations to its Exeter headquarters.

However, the SNP MSP Brian Adam said the move would jeopardise the lives of offshore workers and fishermen.

The OILC oil and gas workers' union said the Aberdeen office was a "centre of excellence" for the industry.

Managers have started consultations with unions over changes to the service and BBC Scotland has learned that one option is closure of the Aberdeen centre, which employs 37 people.

The oil and fishing industries receive weather forecasts from the Met Office under a commercial agreement.

It's key to the commercial services that are offered to the oil and gas industry and obviously very important to other people who work offshore, such as fishermen Brian Adam Aberdeen North MSP

The UK Offshore Operators' Association, which represents major firms such as Shell and BP, said: "UKOOA is not aware of any safety issues relating to the Met Office's proposals to close their Aberdeen regional office.

"However, we would welcome the opportunity to discuss the issue with them and to seek reassurances that there will be no deterioration in services and the services provided to the offshore oil and gas industry.

"The Met Office is only one of several companies providing weather services to our industry."

Bertie Armstrong, chief executive of the Scottish Fishermen's Federation, said skippers needed a tailored service and local knowledge was vital given conditions in the North Sea.

Skipper's view

Peter Bruce, skipper of the Peterhead-registered Budding Rose, told BBC Scotland on a satellite phone link that fishermen relied on the Met Office forecasts.

He said that local knowledge was very important and for this to be in the south west of England was a "very bad move" for the fishing industry

Mr Adam said oil and gas workers and fishermen relied on a local weather service and officials were planning to shut the only centre that was in profit.

The Met Office wants to centralise civilian forecasting services

The Aberdeen North MSP said that, of the options being considered by the Met Office, closure was the "preferred proposal".

He told BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland programme: "As I understand it there are 37 people employed there. There are professional forecasters who have specialised knowledge and local knowledge.

"It's key to the commercial services that are offered to the oil and gas industry and obviously very important to other people who work offshore, such as fishermen.

"I am aware that there are concerns in the oil industry about this proposal and I certainly believe that representations will be made, not just by politicians such as myself but by industry interests to make sure that these services continue."

'No decrease in quality'

Ewen McCallum, head of forecasting at the Met Office, said nothing had been decided yet.

He said: "As far as Aberdeen is concerned, it's been a great office serving the North Sea and we've done studies that show there will be no decrease in value or quality of the forecasts.

"This has been a process that's been going on for years. Fifteen years ago we had 14 weather centres and we're now down to six and in fact that will be down to zero over the next few years.

"It's an evolutionary process, it's part of the fact that we're a highly technical business."

Asked if the decision was a financial one, Mr McCallum said: "As far as we're concerned it's a decision based on the fact that weather forecasting nowadays is a highly technical business.

Aberdeen is...recognised and acknowledged as being a world centre of excellence for the oil industry and indeed giving weather forecasts to the whole of the marine industry Jake Molloy OILC union

"We have super-computers, we've invested in these and forecasting has changed a long way since I was actually a forecaster 30 years ago in Aberdeen.

"Things have moved on, it's not done by pencils and rubbers, it's a fairly technological business, so that's really what it's based on."

Jake Molloy, general secretary of the OILC, said: "The Met Office seems to have moved from one extreme to the other.

"Not so long ago we were talking about having centres of excellence throughout the country to deal with the local environment in which they were situated but also to be world leaders in certain things.

"Aberdeen is a case in point, it's recognised and acknowledged as being a world centre of excellence for the oil industry and indeed giving weather forecasts to the whole of the marine industry."

Weather stations at military bases will be unaffected by the proposals.

A 90-day period of consultation involving the Prospect Union is now under way.