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25/08/2005
FBU criticises ‘soaring costs’ of new fire centres
The Fire Brigades Union has criticised government plans to build new regional fire centres, claiming that costs could rise as high as £2 billion.
The government plans to replace 46 emergency fire control rooms with nine regional control centres.
The plans were announced earlier in August. Seven sites have been named so far, with one site still to be confirmed in the South East of England. London already has a regional centre.
The new control centre network is expected to be operational by 2009.
However, the FBU claimed that costs for the new centres had already risen to £1 billion and could rise as £2 billion. The union said that Fire Minister Jim Fitzpatrick had confirmed the figures in a meeting with FBU members in Cambridgeshire.
The FBU said that a “high risk” of spiralling costs will lead to pressure to cut frontline services, which could push up council tax.
FBU General Secretary Matt Wrack said: “It was incompetent of government to sign up to plans before they knew the horrendous costs involved. It is irresponsible of them to fail to accept they made a mistake and think again.
“£2 billion is more than the £1.7 billion annual budget of the entire fire service. A vast amount of money desperately needed for frontline services will be diverted to a technology project, which won’t save a single life.
“We now face the very real risk of cuts to frontline fire services to pay for the rising costs of this project. We need an independent assessment of these plans before they are allowed to proceed any further.”
Announcing the project earlier this month, Fire Minister Jim Fitzpatrick said that there was a “compelling need to modernise and rationalise the control rooms in England”. He said: "While existing control rooms do a good job, they are not designed to deal in a co-ordinated way with major regional or national incidents – they need improvement and investment.”
(KMcA/SP)
The government plans to replace 46 emergency fire control rooms with nine regional control centres.
The plans were announced earlier in August. Seven sites have been named so far, with one site still to be confirmed in the South East of England. London already has a regional centre.
The new control centre network is expected to be operational by 2009.
However, the FBU claimed that costs for the new centres had already risen to £1 billion and could rise as £2 billion. The union said that Fire Minister Jim Fitzpatrick had confirmed the figures in a meeting with FBU members in Cambridgeshire.
The FBU said that a “high risk” of spiralling costs will lead to pressure to cut frontline services, which could push up council tax.
FBU General Secretary Matt Wrack said: “It was incompetent of government to sign up to plans before they knew the horrendous costs involved. It is irresponsible of them to fail to accept they made a mistake and think again.
“£2 billion is more than the £1.7 billion annual budget of the entire fire service. A vast amount of money desperately needed for frontline services will be diverted to a technology project, which won’t save a single life.
“We now face the very real risk of cuts to frontline fire services to pay for the rising costs of this project. We need an independent assessment of these plans before they are allowed to proceed any further.”
Announcing the project earlier this month, Fire Minister Jim Fitzpatrick said that there was a “compelling need to modernise and rationalise the control rooms in England”. He said: "While existing control rooms do a good job, they are not designed to deal in a co-ordinated way with major regional or national incidents – they need improvement and investment.”
(KMcA/SP)
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