"Don Touhig MP, the Under Secretary of State for Defence and the Minister
responsible for the Met Office, has today announced in Parliament a major
change to the way the majority of Met Office forecasts will be produced.

The decision is to:

a.. concentrate most non-military weather forecast production in Exeter
and Aberdeen
b.. invest in regional Met Office advisers, who will develop business
relationships with existing and new public and commercial customers around
the UK
c.. remove the production of weather forecasts from the Met Offices at
London, Belfast, Manchester, Birmingham and Cardiff
This decision, which does not affect the Met Offices at military locations,
follows an extensive consultation period, during which representations from
anyone who has an interest in the decision - including customers, the Trades
Union and MPs - have been made to the Minister.

Don Touhig said "This decision will ensure that the Met Office continues to
provide an excellent service to all of its customers and the country at
large. It is very important that the Met Office, as the national weather
service for the UK, provides its services to customers in a way that reduces
costs to the taxpayer in the long-term".

Met Office Chief Executive Mark Hutchinson, said "Investment in the new
Exeter headquarters and other related technology - such as our massive
supercomputing power - has considerably improved our forecasting capability
in recent years and allowed us to produce weather forecasts for any part of
the UK from a central location.

"These changes will maintain quality of services while introducing
flexibility and importantly helping drive down costs to our customers for
the future".

The Met Office will now be working with stakeholders, staff and customers to
implement the decision and to ensure that the process is carried forward as
efficiently as possible."

Taken from the Met. Office website.

Just one question, how can they provide a better countrywide service, from
one location?

Mike