A PETERSFIELD fire-fighter has voiced his fears over controversial plans to replace Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service's current Hampshire control centre with a new regional fire control centre for the whole of the South East.

"It has the potential for things to go wrong," warned Petersfield town councillor and local firefighter Chris Jenner.

"We will lose all local knowledge built up in the county," he warned.

"We all know this new centre is going to happen at some point, but it will be a sad day, because the present control centre is run by local county-based people."

Michael Cartwright, chairman of Hampshire Fire Authority and a Hampshire county councillor, said news of the location for the new South East control centre, which has not yet been divulged, was expected within the next few weeks.

"I am not going to comment, it is a decision that has been decreed by the government," said Mr Cartwright, who did admit there was local concern over the issue.

Critics have warned that the decision could spell disaster, with emergency calls likely to be taken by operators outside the county.

Existing county control centres across England are to be scrapped in favour of eight new regional centres, including one for the South East. London already has a regional centre. Although the locations of the other seven new centres have been announced, negotiations with developers are still ongoing for the South East, and the government has delayed announcing its location.

However it has confirmed that the South East will have a regional centre, replacing the nine which currently cover Surrey, Hampshire, East and West Sussex, the Isle of Wight, Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Buck-inghamshire and Kent. The news means that the axe is likely to fall on all of the area's existing centres which currently deal with the fire service's emergency calls, including Eastleigh in Hampshire, Chichester in West Sussex and Reigate in Surrey.

It is thought that a new purpose-built site is likely to be created to accommodate the new centre rather than a redevelopment of an existing site.

The government has claimed that the changes will allow new investment in new technology and much-needed modernisation.

"There is a compelling need to modernise and rationalise the control rooms in England as part of the overall modernisation agenda," the minister who has the responsibility for fire, Jim Fitzpatrick, said.

"In the post-9/11 world, and in the wake of the events of July 7, we need control centres that are resilient enough to deal with a terrorist attack or any natural disaster.

"While existing control rooms do a good job, they are not designed to deal in a co- ordinated way with major regional or national incidents – they need improvement and investment."

However critics argue that the move could cost lives as local knowledge is lost, and could lead to confusion. For example there are two places called Headley in Hampshire, as well as a Headley in Surrey.

The Fire Brigades' Union, which has opposed the plan, rejected government claims that the shake-up will improve safety, with technology brought in to replace workers who calm and reassure callers.

"The government proposes to spend £1 billion making us all less safe," said Geoff Ellis, who has been leading the union's campaign against the regional centres.

"It involves replacing people with expensive and untried technology.

"And when the technology fails, as all technology does sometimes, you rely entirely on human beings, their training as well as their local knowledge.

"Reducing the number of control centres in England from 46 to nine means that we will no longer be able to rely on that local knowledge."

Union president Ruth Winters added: "I have worked in control centres for nearly 20 years.

"I have taken calls in which I spend 15 minutes on the telephone, literally saving a life. One was a man whose legs were trapped after an accident, and our control members needed to keep talking and making him do the right things to stay alive.

"But that can only be done when there are enough staff to take other emergency calls."