This morning the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister announced that the location for the South East's Fire & Rescue Services Regional Control Centre will be situated in Fareham, Hampshire.

The FiReControl project - the move to regional control centres - is the Government led response to a review of fire control rooms by consultants Mott Macdonald, published in December 2003.

The new centre will serve Berkshire , Buckinghamshire , East Sussex , Hampshire , Kent , Isle of Wight , Oxfordshire , Surrey and West Sussex , a geographical area of some 7,336 square miles and serving over eight million people.

Cllr Lionel Barnard , West Sussex County Council Cabinet Member with responsibilty for Public Protection said: "It is two years since the government told us that it was going to close all county-based control rooms because it had decided 999 calls to the Fire and Rescue service should be dealt with regionally. In the GOSE region of the south east, this means nine control rooms being absorbed into one. This regional agenda raises many concerns for me, and I am not convinced that one control centre will prove be more resillient than nine. The important question of a new IT system has yet to be resolved.

"Although the announcement has now ended a considerable period of uncertainty for all staff who are directly affected, it will raise many questions with regards to their employment that we, as their current employer, are unable to answer because a governance paper has still not been delivered by the national project team at ODPM."

"It remains a very worrying time for our fire control staff, yet they continue to provide an excellent service in very difficult circumstances which is a tribute to their professionalism. At least some of them, depending on personal circumstances, may be able to apply for jobs at the new centre if the government insists on driving this project through."

West Sussex Chief Fire Officer Martin Burrell said he was pleased that the period of waiting for this decision was over but again raised his concerns, which have repeatedly been bought to the attention of the Office of the Prime Minister and discussed at West Sussex Cabinet level.

"We remain unconvinced that the FiReControl project will deliver the benefits envisaged by government. For example in West Sussex we already use advanced technology and our call response time is 45 seconds. It is difficult to see how the RCC can improve this. There is an overall lack of evidence to support the Government's case for such a drastic consolidation."

Mr Burrell echoed the concerns that have been expressed by Cllr Lionel Barnard and Fire Authority Leaders in the South East region regarding the potential for an increase in costs that might have to be carried by the taxpayer.

" The picture is still very unclear on what functions will form a part of the new regional control centre and what the County Council will be responsible for. In addition we have to consider current investments that have already been committed and which could now turn out to be wasted resources. These will not be refunded by government."

The regional control room for the South East was originally planned by the Government to open at the end of 2007. However, the infrastructure arrangements for successful implementation of the FiReControl Project have been significantly delayed and will now not be before 2009.

Note to news editors:

Issued on October 11th 2005 by Martin Burrell, Chief Fire Officer , West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service and Lionel Barnard, West Sussex County Council Cabinet Member for Public Protection

For media enquiries contact:
West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service media office
West Sussex County Council Communications Unit

An artist's impression and photos of how the site will look are available from the FiReControl website https://www.firecontrol.odpm.gov.uk or by contacting the ODPM press office Tel: . Further information on the FiReControl project is available on the ODPM website http://www.odpm.gov.uk