MILLIONS of pounds are being wasted by the Government in setting up a regional fire brigade control that could cost lives, according to North Yorkshire Fire Brigades Union.

The Government plans to open a fire brigade control room in Wakefield which would merge the control rooms for North Yorkshire, Humberside and South and West Yorkshire. A further eight regional fire centres would cover the rest of the country.

The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) has campaigned against the amalgamated control rooms from the start, saying local knowledge would be lost and replaced with a computer system.

The new system was originally supposed to be installed and running by 2007 although this was later changed to August 2011. The FBU now says there will be a further ten-month delay because of IT problems, adding £1,526,220 to a total cost of £4,427,198 for the Yorkshire and Humber project alone.

Ian Watkins, North Yorkshire secretary for the FBU, said if the control centre was up and running by 2012, the Government would have spent about £6 million on the project, money which he said would have been better spent on front-line fire services. The rent on the building in Wakefield is currently costing £152,662 each month. Mr Watkins said: “How can they justify wasting the millions of pounds that they are doing yet they are taking away from front-line services. We’ve lost 34 firefighter posts in North Yorkshire alone since 2004 – 12 of them from York. That’s what we need, more front-line firefighters and investment in the North Yorkshire control room.

“The Government seems to think that the control centres are like call centres but they are not – there are a lot of people with expert local knowledge in the control centre we have at Northallerton.”

He said: “We’ve also got concerns about the Government’s track record with IT – we’re dealing with an emergency service where every second counts whereas for previous projects if a mistake is made and a cheque is incorrectly sent out it’s not a matter of life and death.”

The Press asked the Department for Communities and Local Government if they could confirm the FBU’s assertions and also why there would be further delays to the control centre project.

“A spokeswoman for the department said: “Public safety is always of the utmost importance.

“We are confident that fire control system can be delivered and as with any project of this size it is right and proper for there to be contingency plans put in place. The Department’s focus is making sure the benefits of this project are delivered to the fire and rescue service and the public.”