Safety First for Huhne in bid to stop fire centre

1.33.37pm UTC (GMT +0000) Thu 9th Jun 2005

Eastleigh MP Chris Huhne today urged the government to guarantee the safety of local residents by re-considering proposals to reorganise local fire services.

Mr Huhne signed an Early Day Motion in parliament which calls for John Prescott's Office of the Deputy Prime Minister to think again over the policy of regionalising fire control centres.

At present the centres are operated on a local authority basis. Eastleigh constituency is supported by a centre based in Eastleigh that covers Hampshire.

Commenting Mr Huhne said "I have been concerned about these plans for some time and received many letters from constituents who share my fears

"If the government goes ahead with its plans Eastleigh's fire control room could be closed. Understandably this is of great concern to people in the constituency.

"Eastleigh residents value the reassurance provided by the control room. The Government must remember the importance of local knowledge in co-ordinating the response of emergency services.

"It would be foolish for the government to press ahead with these plans when it appears from their own report that there are serious risks associated with the scheme.

"Regional control centres may improve co-ordination, but only at the cost of being more remote from the needs of the community. Moreover, big regional fire control rooms are likely to be a terrorist target with potentially catastrophic results.

"The current service serves the community well, and provides re-assurance to Eastleigh residents that they will be helped quickly should they call upon the fire brigade

"People in Eastleigh are right to demand that the Government does not risk introducing measures which could reduce the fire services' ability to respond in an emergency and jeopardise safety.

Notes to Editors

Chris Huhne MP signed EDM 229

RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH REGIONAL EMERGENCY FIRE CONTROL CENTRES

25.05.2005

Dismore, Andrew

That this House is concerned about the serious financial and service standards implications for central and local government and the Fire Service contained in the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's draft Fire Control Business Case (volume 1); notes that within this report civil servants warned Ministers that there is a `high risk' of `total project failure'; further notes the Government's record on major information technology projects; and therefore calls for an independent assessment of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's final business case before this project proceeds further.

· The proposals are part of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) Fire Control policy.

· The project will re-organise emergency services control centres.

· Fire control centres will operate on a regional basis. The project will replace the forty-six fire control rooms in England, based at local fire brigades, with nine new amalgamated Regional Control Centres. There will be one Regional Control Centre for the South East which will replace the existing control rooms in Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Royal Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire.

Source http://www.hantsfire.gov.uk/attend/firecontrol/odpm.html

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