Serious doubts were today raised about the future of a new £23 million West Midlands fire control centre after the Government pledged to scrap controversial plans to regionalise the UK’s fire service.

Before the General Election, Labour ministers had vowed to press ahead with the troubled and costly proposals to replace all 46 existing fire control rooms in England with nine regional centres.

However, the new coalition Government has announced it intends to abandon the delayed national £423m scheme, called FireControl.

The project includes the bringing together of fire services from the West Midlands, Staffordshire, Shropshire, Hereford & Worcester and Warwickshire under one emergency call centre in Wolverhampton.

The complex, based on the city’s business park off Stafford Road, is costing £1.7 million a-year in rent, maintenance and security, despite currently only being used for meetings and training.

Jobs

It is expected to handle more than 100,000 emergency telephone calls a year and create 130 jobs when it finally comes into full use in 2011.

Some 90 control room staff in the region could lose their jobs when the new HQ is launched with just 70 out of 159 able to transfer to the new site.

Setting out its five-year plan in a 30-page document unveiled yesterday by Prime Minister David Cameron and his deputy Nick Clegg, the Government promised to “stop plans to force the regionalisation of the fire service”.

When asked to clarify what this meant for the future of call centres ready and standing, Fire Minister Bob Neill could not give a definitive response.

He said: “The last Government’s FireControl project has been dogged by delays, cost over-runs and poor project management.

“We are looking closely at this flawed and expensive programme to consider what we can do to improve the situation.

“We want to ensure value for money for taxpayers, improve resilience and stop the regionalisation of the fire service.”

A damning report earlier this year lambasted ministers over the scheme, found to be costing the taxpayer three times the original price tag.

The Fire Brigades Union said axing the project would end people’s fears about their jobs.

By London reporter Sunita Patel