Horsea Petition

**Mark Powell** · 07-01-09 08:55 AM

I received the following today regarding the closure of Horsea. It is the response from the Prime Minister's Office to the petition against the closure.

Original Petition
“We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to consider the re-opening of Horsea Island Dive Centre, Portsmouth, to the general public.”

Details of Petition:

“I am sure that it has not escaped your notice that Horsea Island has now closed to the public. This is obviously a huge blow to the diving community, not only to the businesses that rely on the lake for training and income, but also to the hundreds of people each year, both individuals and clubs, who use the facility, for fun and training. It is possible that this decision can be turned around through concerted effort at the right level. So if you feel slightly miffed, as I do, that the decision was made without consultation and without any due consideration as to the impact on the local diving community and diving businesses across the South of England, please write to your MP and ask him/her to raise the issue with the Secretary of State at the MOD, or alternatively sign this partition.”

Response
The Horsea Island facility is maintained for training Service divers. For a number of years the facilities were not being fully used by the Armed Forces and therefore became available for rent by external organisations.

The requirement for training service personnel has, however, increased and the facility no longer has the same spare capacity. Commercial partners, who had been granted a three month extension, were therefore formally notified in June 2008 that the contract was at an end.

The Royal Navy is, however, currently negotiating with groups which had previously held non-commercial agreements with the Horsea Island facility - such as the Nautical Archaeology Society, scientific bodies undertaking research work and local charities - to see whether they can be accommodated without compromising military training.

**bythesea** · 07-01-09 09:00 AM

Sounds like horse crap to me. I have taken groups there to train and the military guys were training at the same time. I do see their point though, it would be too easy for a bomb to be taken in, entry checks were hardly comprehensive.