The closure of Northern Lighthouse Board’s Stromness base is not a foregone conclusion, the Board claimed this week.

Northern Lighthouse Board insisted that the consultations are genuine, in response to comments made last week by Orkney and Shetland MP, Mr Alistair Carmichael.

Following a meeting with concerned parties at Orkney Islands Council last week, Mr Carmichael accused the board of paying lip service to the consultation process surrounding the possible closure of the Stromness depot.

A spokesman for the Northern Lighthouse Board told The Orcadian that the Northern Lighthouse Board have agreed to co-operate fully with the Orkney Islands Council investigation into the importance of the NLB facility.

He said: “The board has only a statutory requirement to consult maritime organisations and representatives about operational issues, but decided that any decision needed to be informed by information from the local community.

“The allegations of ‘lip service’ suggests that Mr Carmichael believes that closure is a foregone conclusion, despite several assurances to the contrary. If the board had already made a decision to close the Stromness base then we would have gone ahead and done so.

“The commissioners do not have to consult on socio-economic and community impact, but they wanted to.

“They would not have decided to undertake such a consultation unless they genuinely wanted the information. Extending the period beyond three months simply prolongs the uncertainty for the workforce.”

The spokesman refuted Mr Carmichael’s suggestion that, regardless of the future of the depot, any work to bring the premises up to health and safety standards would still have to go ahead.

He said that there was nothing intrinsically unsafe about the buildings themselves.

“The health and safety issues are not about normal use, they are about ensuring the safety of employees involved in technical and engineering tasks and those using the indoor paint-shop.

“The board sees no need to discuss alternative uses of the buildings, unless a decision is taken to cease the present operations there.”