Staff worries about Bradford 999 control centre (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Staff worries about Bradford 999 control centre

4:41pm Thursday 16th July 2009 in

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Union bosses say staff at Bradford’s fire control centre are being put through “unnecessary trauma” as uncertainty mounts over plans to radically change the way 999 calls are handled.

Plans to set up a regional fire control centre in Wakefield to replace four control centres across Yorkshire have been put on hold for another nine months, meaning the plan is now five years behind schedule.

Ministers have planned a linked national network of nine regional FireControl centres across England. Under the plan, 46 stand-alone control rooms would be axed, including the one in Bradford Road, Birkenshaw, which handles calls from across West Yorkshire.

Project bosses originally expected the state-of-the-art Wakefield replacement to open in 2007 but the opening date had already been put back to October 2011 and has now been delayed again until July 2012.

The Government said the delays were due to “technical problems with developing the IT system”.

Ian Watkins, regional chairman of the Fire Brigades Union in Yorkshire, said: “We are concerned that the Government is lavishing money on a white elephant project when front-line fire services are being starved of cash.

“Within the region, we have got four fire control centres that give the taxpaying public a superb service and value for money.”

Mr Watkins said he had visited the new building in Wakefield and said it was costing a fortune in rent and heating despite the fact it was standing empty. He said the delays would leave the Government paying another £15 million in rents to keep all the new regional control centres empty for longer.

He said the proposed reorganisation had been hanging over staff at the Birkenshaw control room since 2004.

“These people provide a superb service and to put them through this kind of unnecessary trauma is disgraceful,” he said.

Communities Minister Shahid Malik said FireControl would provide “very substantial safety benefits” by establishing a linked network of control centres for the first time.

Dealing with terrorism, large-scale industrial accidents and flooding would all be easier with the new network, he said.

Mr Malik said: “We remain committed to meeting all the up-front costs associated with the project and to the principle that no Fire and Rescue Authority will bear any additional cost as a result of FireControl implementation.”

The FBU said that, in 2005, the Government had promised a state-of-the-art control system would be in place by 2007 and originally estimated the cost at £100 million. The last business case put the costs at £1.4 billion.

More than £55 million of taxpayers’ money has been spent on consultants working on plans to create the regional fire centres – which could have paid for 300 new appliances, critics say.