Proposals could see fire control rooms merged

Northamptonshire County Council this week backed proposals to share a fire service control room with Leicestershire and Lincolnshire.

On Thursday, Suffolk County Council backed plans to set up a committee to merge control rooms in the East.

This would include Essex, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire fire and rescue services.

Suffolk County Council's executive committee agreed to set up a Regional Management Board (RMB) which will look at how a merger can be achieved.

The government proposals followed the fire strike

One possibility is that a single fire control room in Cambridge would handle calls for the whole region.

The RMB will also look at organising a regional response to disaster and terrorist threats.

A spokesman for the council stressed the board would not be looking at merging the county fire services, only their control rooms.

Mac McGuire, chairman of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Fire Authority, said he had backed the new body, but was concerned about the reasoning for the merger plan.

He told BBC News Online on Thursday: "My personal view is that the decision by the government about regional control rooms has more to do with Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott's agenda for regional government than a sensible approach to control rooms."

Criticism of plans

A spokeswoman for Northamptonshire County Council said plans for the control room merger with Leicestershire and Lincolnshire could be upset if the government insists on including the likes of Nottinghamshire.

Last year merger plans were criticised by Gary Mitchell, secretary of Northamptonshire Fire Brigades Union.

He told BBC News Online firefighters were concerned a merged control room would lack local knowledge and slow down response times.

"Big is not always betters. We are not scared of change, but we are concerned with downgrading public protection and loss of members' jobs," he said.