Ministers feel heat over chaotic move to open fire control centre

Numerous delays are said to have led to a lack of confidence in the Government's ability to deliver such a "complex project". The base near Wakefield will not become operational until July 2012 despite already costing 5,000 every day.

The Regional Management Board, which includes fire authority members from across Yorkshire and the Humber, accuses the Government of failing to "grasp the complex nature of this project" and suggests delays could jeopardise the ability to deliver a "first class" service.

It says costs have been inflated partly because the new buildings are too big and security is excessive, and warns taxpayers may be left to foot the bill once a three-year Government pledge of cash runs out.

The board made its strong criticism of the Department of Communities and Local Government (CLG) in written evidence to a House of Commons inquiry into the troubled FireControl project to streamline England's 46 local control rooms into nine centres.

In Yorkshire, four control rooms in Birkenshaw, Sheffield, Hessle, and Northallerton are due to replaced with the regional centre in Wakefield, which was built in 2008, but the switchover of emergency calls is not expected to take place until July 2012, despite the centre costing 152,662.67 a month.

This week local government leaders said council chiefs had moved from being "broadly supportive" of the project to "a position of hostility", and said the Government should consider "pulling the plug" on the scheme.

The comments from the Regional Management Board – representing the region's fire authorities in South, West, North Yorkshire and Humberside – make further uncomfortable reading for officials.

In a stark warning to Ministers, they even suggest Chief Fire Officers could refuse to move to the new centre "should confidence in the final system remain low".

In its evidence, the board says: "From the beginning CLG seem to have failed to grasp the complex nature of this project. If this project is to deliver its objectives there needs to be a new culture of working in partnership with the Fire and Rescue Service, more realistic goals and timescales need to be set."

The board also accuses the Government of creating "nervousness and confusion" by failing to guarantee funding beyond three years, even though some areas will find the new regime more expensive.

"While it is accepted that a review is required once a steady state has been reached to ensure that payments remain accurate there is a fear that the review could lead to these payments being reduced or discontinued," the board says.

"This would lead to an increased burden for local tax payers."

Addressing MPs this week, Brian Coleman of the Local Government Association said: "Fire authorities are reaching the point where they have no confidence in the project. If the technology doesn't work, there is no choice but to scrap it."

An FBU spokesman said: "The project has been a disaster even by the poor standards of Government IT projects. Project management in Whitehall has been incompetent.

"It is a terrible waste of public money at a time of a major spending squeeze."

CLG officials insist the centre is already being used for meetings and "familiarisation visits" and said the project would "deliver substantial benefits to national resilience, public and firefighter safety".