Ref. 30425-34A LEAKED government document has reinforced fears that a shake-up of fire services will waste taxpayers' money and endanger lives.

The Fire Brigades Union says the confidential Office of the Deputy Prime Minister report reveals the true cost of the scheme to close all 46 control centres in England and replace them with nine new regional facilities.

It has been estimated that it would cost more than £750 million to close all the centres, sparking fears of redundancies and council tax hikes to help cover bills.

And the union believes the scheme has a high risk of failure.

"Swindon and Wiltshire ratepayers have already paid millions for the new control room.

"To ask them to pay more for a dedicated regional service is ludicrous," said sub officer Joe Tray, secretary of the Wiltshire branch of the Fire Brigades Union.

"Wiltshire needs a dedicated control room to ensure the safety of residents and firefighters locally.

"We rely on them to send the correct appliances and equipment. They have the local knowledge to ensure they go to the correct place.

"If there's just one centre covering a massive area and it goes down, there will be chaos and lives will be put in danger."

Emergency controllers will form part of a regional emergency call centre made up of fire service representatives from seven authorities across the south west.

Under the plan Wiltshire would join forces with Gloucestershire, Avon, Dorset, Somerset, Devon and Cornwall in a strategic control centre, which has yet to be built.

Devizes has been ruled out as a site for the new build but its location will be announced later this year.

Sub officer Tray, who is based in Swindon, said there was widespread opposition against the plans.

"Our primary role is to protect the public. For this to be a consideration beggar's belief," he said.

The government said the programme would provide a more modern, resilient, efficient and cost effective service.

A spokeswoman said: "Existing control rooms do a good job but they aren't designed to deal with major regional or national incidents.

"To ensure the success of the project we're using the best available technology.

"The Government wouldn't support proposals that could lead to a worse fire and rescue service."

Wiltshire is one of three counties nationally to share tri-control centre for the three emergency services.

Gloucestershire and Cleveland also have similar set-ups to the one in Devizes, which opened in July 2003 at a cost of £7m.

Ben Payne