Winchester & Chandler's Ford MP Steve Brine has welcomed the government's announcement that Labour's FiReControl project is to be scrapped.
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Department for Communities and Local Government, Bob Neill MP, told the Commons that following extensive discussion with Cassidian (formerly EADS Defence and Security), the main FiReControl contractor, the requirements of the project could not be delivered to an acceptable timeframe.
Mr Neill said: “We will be consulting the fire and rescue sector soon on the future for control services, making use of FiReControl assets, including the control centres and how we can best support the Fire and Rescue Service and Authorities with their preferences.”
An empty FiReControl centre at Kites Croft in Segensworth is costing taxpayers a massive £173,668 per month in rent. It had been designed to serve nine counties across the south, including Hampshire, one of nine such regional ‘hubs’.
Steve said: “FiReControl was a project established under the previous Government, and I am delighted it is now being scrapped because it simply does not work and was not what local people wanted. This project has wasted millions of pounds of public money as well as thousands of firefighter hours in trying to bring it to completion.
“It brought great uncertainty for Control Room staff around the country and I will now be working closely with Ministerial colleagues in Parliament to see where we go next. Central for me will be the retention of local control rooms and of course the safety of the people I represent.”
More information...
You can access the Ministerial statement on Hansard here.