[06 February 2008]

Fire Authorities combine to run new regional fire & rescue control centres

A new company has been set up to run a regional control centre for nine fire and rescue services in the South East of England. It follows a controversial Government decision to close 47 fire control rooms and replace them with nine regional centres across the U.K.

All nine services opposed the plan to regionalise fire and rescue control centres, preferring to keep the service more local. However, after the Government decided to press ahead with the project, it was agreed a joint company was the best way to run the centre. The Board of the South East Fire and Rescue Control Centre Limited is determined to move the project forward and provide an excellent service for the public in the South East.

The control rooms will move one by one into the Hampshire-based centre over a 14-month period. Work on the site at Kite's Croft in Fareham is currently under way and the building is due to be completed in May 2008.

The first fire and rescue authority to start operating from the centre will be Hampshire in May 2010 and the last will be the Isle of Wight in September 2011. The project is being steered by the Department for Communities and Local Government.

The South East company was set up in August 2007 and held its first Board meeting in November 2007. Each of the nine fire and rescue authorities is represented on the board. The current chairman is West Sussex County Council, with Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes Combined Fire Authority as vice-chairman.